US embassy cable - 03BRUSSELS5015

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 005015 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL/PC MAREN BROOKS, L/LEI FOR KEN PROPP; DOJ FOR 
OIA/KEN HARRIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, KCRM, KJUS, PREL, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: STATUS OF BILATERAL PROTOCOLS ON EXTRADITION AND 
MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE 
 
REF: BRUSSELS 03211 
 
 1.  The U.S.-EU Agreements on Extradition and Mutual Legal 
Assistance were signed at the Summit in Washington on June 
25, 2003.  Before these agreements can be sent to Congress 
for ratification, protocols to existing bilateral extradition 
and MLATs must be negotiated.  In the limited instances where 
there are no existing bilateral treaties on the subject, new 
agreements will be necessary to create a bilateral obligation 
to bring into force the U.S-EU Agreement.  The U.S.-EU 
Agreements and the bilateral protocols will then be sent 
forward as a package for ratification. 
 
2. The first three sets of bilateral protocols with 
Copenhagen, Italy and Ireland were largely completed October 
29-30 in Brussels.  The next tranche of countries (Austria, 
Greece, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and 
possibly Belgium) will be addressed the week of November 17. 
Negotiations with the balance of the current EU member states 
(those considered to be potentially the most difficult) will 
be held in January 2004.  It is hoped that the protocols with 
the ten accession states can also be concluded prior to 
submission of the package to Congress.  However, if this is 
not likely, those protocols can be submitted at a later date. 
 
3. The intent of the bilateral protocols is to formally 
incorporate the updated provisions of the new U.S.-EU 
Agreements into the existing treaties.  Where no extradition 
or MLA treaty exists, the U.S.-EU Agreements form the initial 
bases for bilateral cooperation.  Bilateral treaty articles 
not addressed in the U.S.-EU Agreements are unaffected and 
continue in force.  It is intended that each protocol will 
have an annex in which the specific changes to the bilateral 
treaties are spelled out.  Italy presented draft annexes in 
the form of a "consolidated" text; i.e., those bilateral 
articles affected by the U.S.-EU Agreements.  Articles not 
affected by the U.S.-EU Agreement are, however, not 
incorporated but remain in effect. USDEL welcomed these 
drafts and will urge the adoption of this approach whenever 
possible in all future negotiations. 
 
4.  There is an unresolved issue with the Irish extradition 
protocol. Under Irish law there is an 18-day deadline for 
production of extradition request documentation to the Irish 
court in order for a suspect who is being held provisionally 
to continue under arrest.  Without the extradition request 
being in the court, the suspect must be released on the 18th 
day.  The U.S.-EU Extradition Agreement specifies, however, 
that documents delivered to the Irish Embassy in Washington 
within this deadline meet the requirement.  On the contrary, 
the Irish delegation thought the necessary documentation had 
to be in the hands of the courts by the deadline, not the 
Irish Embassy.  They agreed to inquire whether certification 
by the Ministry of Justice that documentation was received by 
the Irish Embassy in Washington meets the deadline 
requirements. 
 
SCHNABEL