Article 8(1)(c) of the Framework Decision 2002/584 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, is to be interpreted as meaning that the term ‘arrest warrant’, as used in that provision, must be understood as referring to a national arrest warrant that is distinct from the European arrest warrant.

The issue of a European arrest warrant in accordance with the ‘simplified procedure’ — thus not entailing the issue of any prior national judicial decision, such as a national arrest warrant, which forms the basis of the European arrest warrant – may interfere with the principles of mutual recognition and confidence on which the European arrest warrant system is based. Those principles are based on the premiss that the European arrest warrant concerned has been issued in conformity with the minimum requirements necessary for it to be valid, which include the requirement laid down in Article 8(1)(c) of the Framework Decision. Where the executing judicial authority is faced with a European arrest warrant issued under a ‘simplified’ procedure which is based on the existence of an arrest warrant within the meaning of Article 8(1)(c) of the Framework Decision, but the European arrest warrant does not refer to a national arrest warrant that is distinct from the European warrant, it is not in a position to verify whether the European arrest warrant concerned complies with the requirement laid down in Article 8(1)(c) of the Framework Decision. Moreover, compliance with the requirement laid down in Article 8(1)(c) of the Framework Decision is of particular importance since it means that, where the European arrest warrant has been issued with a view to the arrest and surrender by another Member State of a requested person for the purposes of conducting a criminal prosecution, that person should have already had the benefit, at the first stage of the proceedings, of procedural safeguards and fundamental rights, the protection of which it is the task of the judicial authority of the issuing Member State to ensure, in accordance with the applicable provisions of national law, for the purpose, inter alia, of adopting a national arrest warrant. The European arrest warrant system therefore entails, in view of the requirement laid down in Article 8(1)(c) of the Framework Decision, a dual level of protection for procedural rights and fundamental rights which must be enjoyed by the requested person, since, in addition to the judicial protection provided at the first level, at which a national judicial decision, such as a national arrest warrant, is adopted, is the protection that must be afforded at the second level, at which a European arrest warrant is issued, which may occur, depending on the circumstances, shortly after the adoption of the national judicial decision. That dual level of judicial protection is lacking, in principle, in a situation in which a ‘simplified’ European arrest warrant procedure is applied, since, under that procedure, no decision, such as a decision to issue a national arrest warrant on which the European arrest warrant will be based, has been taken by a national judicial authority before the European arrest warrant is issued.

(see paras 52-58, operative part 1)