List offenses under the European Arrest Warrant

What are list offenses?

For the European Arrest Warrant, the executing state waives the review of dual criminality for 32 specified categories of offenses under Article 2(2) of Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA (transposed into Section 81 No. 4 IRG). The condition is that the penalty in the issuing state carries a maximum of at least three years. These 32 offenses are referred to as “list offenses” (Katalogstraftaten).

The 32 list offenses

The list offenses include, among others: terrorism, trafficking in human beings, sexual exploitation of children, illicit drug trafficking, illicit arms trafficking, corruption, fraud including subsidy fraud and VAT fraud, money laundering, counterfeiting of means of payment, cybercrime, environmental crime, facilitation of unauthorized entry, manslaughter and grievous bodily injury, kidnapping and unlawful detention, racism and xenophobia, organized crime, sabotage, robbery, receiving stolen goods, extortion, forgery of documents, product piracy, and motor vehicle theft.

Significance for the defense

For list offenses, there is no option to prevent the extradition by arguing that the conduct in question would not be punishable in Germany. However, the review of other bars to extradition — protection of fundamental rights, double jeopardy (ne bis in idem), judgment in absentia, detention conditions — remains fully intact.

Non-list offenses

For all offenses outside the list, the requirement of dual criminality continues to apply: the act must also be punishable under German law with a custodial sentence of at least one year (Section 81 No. 1 IRG). If dual criminality is lacking, the extradition is inadmissible.

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