Admissibility challenge - competing request - consultations with the Court

Federal Republic of Germany

Germany - Cooperation with ICC 2002 EN

Part 5 Additional Mutual Assistance

§ 47 Principle
(relating to Article 93 para. 1, Article 96 para. 1 and 2 of the Rome Statute)

(4) The treatment of conflicting requests for additional mutual assistance shall be dealt with according to Article 93 para. 9(a) of the Rome Statute. To the extent Article 90 of the Rome Statute applies, § 4 applies mutatis mutandis.

Part 2 Surrender of persons

§ 4 Requests for Surrender and Requests for Extradition
(relating to Article 90 of the Rome Statute)

(1) If a foreign state requests extradition of a person on the basis of a criminal act over which the Court has jurisdiction, the Court may be informed of the submission of the request. Upon request, the Court will be given a copy of the extradition request and the accompanying documents, when the foreign state does not object to the transmittal and the transmittal does not contradict other international law agreements.
(2) Should the Court request surrender and a foreign state request extradition of the same person, the Court and the state will each be notified of the other request. If the request for surrender and the request for extradition are each based upon the same criminal act, this shall be included in the notification required in the first sentence.
(3) If extradition has not been approved at the time of receipt of the request of the Court for surrender, the decision regarding this will be deferred conditional upon paragraph 5 until a decision regarding approval of the surrender. The decision regarding which request will be given priority will be made in accordance with Article 90 para. 2, 4, and 7 (a) of the Rome Statute.
(4) In cases under Article 90 para. 2-6 of the Rome Statute, after approval of the request for surrender the decision on the approval of extradition shall be deferred until a final decision in the proceedings before the Court regarding the criminal acts upon which the request for surrender was based.
(5) In a case under Article 90 para. 5 of the Rome Statute, if the Court has not decided on permissibility within two months after the notification pursuant to Article 90 para. 1 of the Rome Statute, a decision may be made regarding approval of the extradition when the other prerequisites are met.
(6) In cases under Article 90 para. 6 and 7 (b) of the Rome Statute, the request of the Court will be given priority to the extent that, when considering all of the criteria in these provisions, the reasons in favor of approving the extradition request are not clearly predominant.
(7) The Court will be notified in all cases of the decision regarding the extradition request.

Rome Statute

Article 90 Competing requests

1. A State Party which receives a request from the Court for the surrender of a person under article 89 shall, if it also receives a request from any other State for the extradition of the same person for the same conduct which forms the basis of the crime for which the Court seeks the person's surrender, notify the Court and the requesting State of that fact.

2. Where the requesting State is a State Party, the requested State shall give priority to the request from the Court if:

(a) The Court has, pursuant to article 18 or 19, made a determination that the case in respect of which surrender is sought is admissible and that determination takes into account the investigation or prosecution conducted by the requesting State in respect of its request for extradition; or

(b) The Court makes the determination described in subparagraph (a) pursuant to the requested State's notification under paragraph 1.

3. Where a determination under paragraph 2 (a) has not been made, the requested State may, at its discretion, pending the determination of the Court under paragraph 2 (b), proceed to deal with the request for extradition from the requesting State but shall not extradite the person until the Court has determined that the case is inadmissible. The Court's determination shall be made on an expedited basis.

4. If the requesting State is a State not Party to this Statute the requested State, if it is not under an international obligation to extradite the person to the requesting State, shall give priority to the request for surrender from the Court, if the Court has determined that the case is admissible.

5. Where a case under paragraph 4 has not been determined to be admissible by the Court, the requested State may, at its discretion, proceed to deal with the request for extradition from the requesting State.

6. In cases where paragraph 4 applies except that the requested State is under an existing international obligation to extradite the person to the requesting State not Party to this Statute, the requested State shall determine whether to surrender the person to the Court or extradite the person to the requesting State. In making its decision, the requested State shall consider all the relevant factors, including but not limited to:

(a) The respective dates of the requests;

(b) The interests of the requesting State including, where relevant, whether the crime was committed in its territory and the nationality of the victims and of the person sought; and

(c) The possibility of subsequent surrender between the Court and the requesting State.

7. Where a State Party which receives a request from the Court for the surrender of a person also receives a request from any State for the extradition of the same person for conduct other than that which constitutes the crime for which the Court seeks the person's surrender:

(a) The requested State shall, if it is not under an existing international obligation to extradite the person to the requesting State, give priority to the request from the Court;

(b) The requested State shall, if it is under an existing international obligation to extradite the person to the requesting State, determine whether to surrender the person to the Court or to extradite the person to the requesting State. In making its decision, the requested State shall consider all the relevant factors, including but not limited to those set out in paragraph 6, but shall give special consideration to the relative nature and gravity of the conduct in question.

Where pursuant to a notification under this article, the Court has determined a case to be inadmissible, and subsequently extradition to the requesting State is refused, the requested State shall notify the Court of this decision.

Article 93 Other forms of cooperation

9.

(a)

(i) In the event that a State Party receives competing requests, other than for surrender or extradition, from the Court and from another State pursuant to an international obligation, the State Party shall endeavour, in consultation with the Court and the other State, to meet both requests, if necessary by postponing or attaching conditions to one or the other request.

Article 97 Consultations

Where a State Party receives a request under this Part in relation to which it identifies problems which may impede or prevent the execution of the request, that State shall consult with the Court without delay in order to resolve the matter. Such problems may include, inter alia:

(a) Insufficient information to execute the request;

(b) In the case of a request for surrender, the fact that despite best efforts, the person sought cannot be located or that the investigation conducted has determined that the person in the requested State is clearly not the person named in the warrant; or

(c) The fact that execution of the request in its current form would require the requested State to breach a pre-existing treaty obligation undertaken with respect to another State.