The European Court of Justice has ruled that offenders arrested under a European Arrest Warrant must be extradited to the issuing country, unless that state agrees to let another member enforce the sentence.

If an offender from an EU country is sought with a European Arrest Warrant and arrested in another member state, the second country may not enforce the sentence itself without the consent of the issuing state.

In such cases, the person concerned must be surrendered, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg ruled on Thursday, responding to questions from Romania.

A court in Bucharest sentenced a Romanian man to prison in 2017, with the sentence becoming final in 2020. The court issued a European Arrest Warrant to locate him, and he was soon arrested in Italy. However, Italian authorities refused to hand him over to Romania.

Instead, they chose to recognise the Romanian judgement and enforce the sentence in Italy, arguing that this would increase the chance of reintegration since the man was legally residing there. The Italian authorities credited time already served in Italy and planned house arrest for him.

Romania objected, maintaining that the European Arrest Warrant remained valid and that the offender had to be extradited to serve his sentence in Romania. A Bucharest court referred the case to the ECJ.

The Court underlined that the European Arrest Warrant is founded on mutual trust and may only be set aside in exceptional cases. Consent from the issuing state must be obtained before another member state can enforce the sentence. Without such consent, enforcement cannot be transferred.

In this case, the final decision now lies with the Romanian court, which is bound by the ECJ's ruling.