Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Extradition Act 2003: Non‑statutory bars—abuse of process; ECHR Articles 3, 6 and 8; prison conditions and assurances; medical issues; life without parole; time served and EMC credit

Published by a LexisNexis Corporate Crime expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note examines the non-statutory bars to extradition, including abuse of process, human rights concerns, and arguments about time served. For information on the statutory bars to extradition, see Practice Note: Statutory bars to extradition. For further reading on the procedure that applies under the Extradition Act 2003 (EA 2003), see Practice Note: Extradition under Parts 1 and 2 of the Extradition Act 2003—procedure.

Abuse of process

The court has jurisdiction to decide whether extradition should be refused because its processes have been abused. This bar is not set out in the EA 2003; it has been developed by case law. The abuse of process argument is a free‑standing ground of challenge, to be considered only after any statutory bars or human rights issues. The default position is that the requesting state is taken to have acted in good faith, so the person sought must satisfy the extradition judge that this is not so. In Belbin v France, the High Court underscored that the circumstances in which the court will exercise its implied abuse of process jurisdiction in extradition cases are very limited...

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Charlotte Evans

Peters & Peters

Charlotte is an experienced Associate, advising individual and corporate clients across a broad range of practice areas, including criminal fraud, Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigations, private prosecutions, INTERPOL red notice, extradition and mutual legal assistance matters, internal investigations, bribery offences, sanctions and general crime.Charlotte often advises clients facing investigation/action brought by UK and overseas governments or enforcement agencies, including the UK’s SFO, Financial Conduct Authority, HM Revenue and Customs and the US Department of Justice (DOJ). She also has experience of advising on internal investigations, particularly where fraud or corruption are suspected and there is a risk of civil, criminal, or regulatory proceedings, as well as reputational/commercial risk.Her private prosecution experience includes assisting the team that successfully prosecuted two individuals on behalf of Inkorporate Ltd, who were found guilty of fraud and money laundering offences in May 2022 following a lengthy...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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