News
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Extradition in the Isle of Man and the Human Rights Act 2001 in the Financial Services sector
Recent controversy in UK concerning extradition in the financial services sector, particularly in connection with the “Natwest Three” underlines the importance of extradition in countries like IOM which are concerned to protect the integrity of their financial services activities.
The current extradition regime in UK was introduced from 1 January 2004 under the Extradition Act 2003.
The process has been simplified as compared with the previous procedure under the Extradition Act 1989. In particular, in many instances there is now no requirement for the country seeking extradition to present a prima facie case involving the production of evidence. This is the case with the European Union countries which apply the European Arrest Warrant procedure, and for certain other designated countries among those with which UK has extradition arrangements, as diverse as Azerbijan and USA. However, by way of protection for the individual, the court must be satisfied, among other matters, that his extradition is compatible with his human rights.
In IOM, the procedure introduced by the Extradition Act 2003 does not yet apply nor could it fully do so pending the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 2001 enabling the European Convention on Human Rights to be applied by the Manx courts. Accordingly, extradition continues to be governed by the more complicated provisions of the Extradition Act 1989.
However, the Human Rights Act is now to come into force on 1 November 2006 and may provide a stimulus for a review of the IOM’s position regarding extradition.
