🇮🇹 Italy → 🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Where, under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the need to secure the physical presence of the requested person in criminal proceedings appears, in abstract terms, compatible with the objectives of the cooperation instrument, this does not exempt the judicial authority of the executing State from carrying out the substantive assessments entrusted to it, namely compliance with the principle of proportionality. It is therefore necessary to assess the impact of surrender on the person’s family life, on the relationship with minor children and on their needs for care and protection, especially where the person is the sole parent of two very young children and there exists, in abstract terms, the possibility of securing the person’s presence by means of a video-link (excluded by the UK court not because such a tool is unavailable or prohibited under domestic law, but on discretionary grounds of expediency).

In the matter of a prosecution arrest warrant issued by the United Kingdom on the basis of the Partnership Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of 24 December 2020, the optional nature of the condition of return to Italy in order to serve there the sentence eventually imposed, provided for under Article 604, letter b), of the aforementioned Agreement, results in a regime for Italian citizens that is less favourable than that laid down, for the analogous system of surrender under the European arrest warrant, by Article 19, paragraph 1, letter b), of Law No. 69 of 22 April 2005, as amended by Article 17, paragraph 1, of Legislative Decree No. 10 of 2 February 2021; therefore, in the absence of an express different request by the person concerned, the surrender is mandatorily subject to the guarantee of return and the relevant condition, where not contained in the challenged judgment, must be imposed by the Court of Cassation also “ex officio.”