Case C-528/24, Boothnesse: Reference for a preliminary ruling from Supreme Court (Ireland) made on 31 July 2024 – LQ, NT, RM v Minister for Justice and Equality
Date: 2024-07-31
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: United Kingdom, cooperation agreement (EU), detention before trial, extradition, imprisonment, offence, public prosecution, trade agreement (EU)








C_202406411EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/6411


4.11.2024






Reference for a preliminary ruling from Supreme Court (Ireland) made on 31 July 2024 – LQ, NT, RM v Minister for Justice and Equality


(Case C-528/24, Boothnesse
                (1)
)

(C/2024/6411)
Language of the case: English

Referring court

Supreme Court

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: LQ, NT and RM

Defendant: Minister for Justice and Equality

Questions referred







1.


Do the provisions of Title VII of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (2) [TCA] dealing with 
                        ‘Surrender’
                      apply only to criminal prosecutions and/or custodial sentences/detention orders imposed in respect of criminal offences?










2.


In Article 625(2) TCA, which provides that except for cases covered by paras 1 and 3 of Article 625 ‘a person surrendered may not be prosecuted, sentenced or otherwise deprived of liberty for an offence committed prior to that person’s surrender other than that for which the person was surrendered’, does 
                        ‘offence’
                      mean (1) a criminal offence as defined by the law of the issuing state of (2) a criminal offence as defined by the law of the executing state or (3) does it have an autonomous meaning in European Union law?










3.


If ‘offence’ in Article 625(2) TCA bears such an autonomous meaning, what are the criteria for determining what constitutes such an 
                        ‘offence’
                     ?










4.


Are Article 47, Article 48, Article 49 and Article 50 of the EU Charter of Fundamental rights (which refer to 
                        ‘effective remedy/fair trial’
                      (Article 47), 
                        ‘charged’
                      (Article 48), ‘criminal offence’ (Article 49) and 
                        ‘criminal proceedings for an offence’
                      (Article 50)) and/or Article 6 and Article 13 of the European Convention of Human Rights (which refers to 
                        ‘any criminal charge’
                      and 
                        ‘effective remedy’) of relevance in that context?










5.


Does Article 625(2) TCA preclude surrender in a situation where a person has been sentenced to 6 months deprivation of liberty for a contempt of court but where surrender has not been sought for the purpose of serving that sentence because the law of the issuing state classifies the contempt of court as civil contempt and does not consider it to constitute a criminal offence or matter?






(1)  The name of the present case is a fictitious name. It does not correspond to the real name of any of the parties to the proceedings.

(2)  
            OJ 2021, L149, p.10.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/6411/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)