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Case 1:20-cr-00330-AJN Document 97-21 Filed 12/14/20 Page 4 of 29

A. Extradition arrangements between the United Kingdom and the United States

The extradition arrangements

3. Extradition relations between the United Kingdom and the United States of America are governed by an extradition treaty signed on 31 March 2003³, which is given effect in the domestic law of the United Kingdom⁴ by the 2003 Act⁵.

Overview of the extradition process

4. The United States of America has been designated as a ‘Part 2 territory’ (also referred to as a ‘Category 2 territory’) for the purposes of the 2003 Act⁶. The effect of this designation is that extradition requests from the United States fall to be considered under Part 2 of the 2003 Act⁷, and the United States is exempted from the requirement to provide evidence sufficient to make a case to answer against the requested person (‘the prima facie case requirement’)⁸.

5. Once a valid⁹ request for extradition is made by a Part 2 territory, the Secretary of State must, subject to very limited exceptions¹⁰ not applicable here, issue a certificate under section 70. Once a certificate is issued, the Secretary of State must send the request and certificate to the appropriate judge. In practice, it is extremely rare for the Secretary of State to refuse to issue a certificate under section 70.

6. Under Part 2 of the 2003 Act, a requested person may be arrested pursuant to either a full extradition request¹¹, or a provisional request pending the service of a full extradition request¹². In both cases, there is an ‘initial hearing’ at which the requested person is produced before ‘the appropriate judge’¹³.

³ Extradition Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, signed 31 March 2003 and ratified on 26 April 2007.

⁴ The Extradition Act 2003 governs extradition to and from the United Kingdom. The Act applies in the three jurisdictions within the United Kingdom: (a) England and Wales; (b) Scotland; and (c) Northern Ireland. There are limited regional variations of which the only one of relevance to this Opinion is that the forum bar in s. 83A of the 2003 Act (see para. [34] below) is not yet in force in Scotland.

⁵ Extradition Act 2003, c.41, given Royal Assent on 20 November 2003.

⁶ Extradition Act 2003 (Designation of Part 2 Territories) Order 2003/3334, Art. 2.

⁷ Extradition Act 2003, s. 69.

⁸ Extradition Act 2003, ss. 84(7) and 86(7).

⁹ The conditions governing whether a request is valid are in ss. 70(3)-(4A) and (7) of the 2003 Act.

¹⁰ These relate to cases where: (a) there is a competing extradition request from another state (ss. 70(2)(a) and 126); and (b) the requested person has been granted refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK (s. 70(2)(b) and (c)).

¹¹ Extradition Act 2003, s. 71.

¹² Extradition Act 2003, s. 73.

¹³ As defined in s. 139 of the Extradition Act 2003.

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