Commentary on Sections Part 12: Extradition Section 169: Extradition to a territory that is party to an international Convention
496.Section 169 substitutes a new section 193 of the 2003 Act to enable the Secretary of State to designate international Conventions and specify conduct in relation to those conventions. The original section 193 allowed the Secretary of State to designate territories which are parties to Conventions. However, as territories frequently sign up to Conventions, the section proved difficult to operate.
497.Under the new section 193, the Secretary of State will only be able to designate Conventions to which the UK is a party and only specify conduct to which the relevant Convention applies. In the event that a party to one of those Conventions then made an extradition request for a person, it would be open to the Secretary of State to certify that: (i) the requesting State was a party to a Convention designated under section 193; and (ii) the conduct in the request was conduct specified in the designation order for the relevant convention. The effect would be that the 2003 Act would apply to the person’s extradition as if the requesting territory were a territory designated under Part 2 of the Act (with certain modifications, as set out in section 193(4)). Examples of Conventions that could be designated include the UN Conventions on terrorism, the UN Convention against corruption and the UN Convention on transnational organised crime.