EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No. 163

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Home Affairs

Extradition Act 1988

Extradition (Uruguay) Regulations 2010

Section 55 of the Extradition Act 1988 (the Act) provides in part, that the Governor‑General may make regulations, not inconsistent with the Act, prescribing all matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.

Section 5 of the Act defines an ‘extradition country’ to include a country that is declared by regulations to be an extradition country. Paragraph 11(1)(a) of the Act provides that regulations may apply the Act to a specified extradition country subject to such limitations, conditions, exceptions or qualifications as are necessary to give effect to a bilateral extradition treaty between Australia and that country, being a treaty a copy of which is set out in the regulations.

The Regulations give effect in Australian domestic law to the Treaty on Extradition between Australia and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, signed at Montevideo on 7 October 1989 (the Treaty). A copy of the Treaty is set out in Schedule 1 of the Regulations. The Regulations apply the Act to requests received from Uruguay subject to the Treaty.

The Treaty modernises the extradition relationship between Australia and Uruguay from current arrangements, which are based on an inherited treaty and protocol from 1884 and 1891 respectively. The Treaty adopts the ‘no evidence’ standard for documentation provided in support of any extradition requests. This means that any country requesting extradition would not need to include actual evidence in support of the offence.

As with all of Australia’s extradition treaties, the Treaty contains a range of internationally accepted human rights safeguards. Under the Treaty, extradition can be refused for offences where the death penalty may apply and where the offence carries a punishment of the kind referred to in Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (including torture). Extradition may also be refused if the request relates to a political offence, a purely military offence, or the request has been made for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing a person on account of his or her race, religion, nationality or political opinions.

The Regulations commence on the day on which the Treaty enters into force. Article 19(1) of the Treaty provides that the Treaty will enter into force thirty days after the date on which the Contracting States have notified each other in writing that their respective requirements for the entry into force of the Treaty have been complied with.

Consultation outside the Australian Government was not undertaken for this legislative instrument as it relates to criminal justice and law enforcement matters and does not have direct, or substantial indirect, effects on business and does not restrict competition. The Treaty was the subject of a public hearing by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, which recommended binding treaty action be taken in Report 10 tabled on 20 October 1997. 

The Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

The Regulations are detailed in the Attachment.

ATTACHMENT

Details of the Extradition (Uruguay) Regulations 2010)

 

Regulation 1 – Name of Regulations

 

This regulation provides that the title of the Regulations is the Extradition (Uruguay) Regulations 2010.

 

Regulation 2 – Commencement

 

This regulation provides that the Regulations commence on the date the Treaty enters into force.

 

Regulation 3 – Definition

 

This regulation defines terms used in the Regulations.

 

Regulation 4 – Declaration that Uruguay is an extradition country

 

This regulation declares Uruguay to be an extradition country.

 

Regulation 5 – Application of Act

 

This regulation provides that the Extradition Act 1988 applies to Uruguay subject to the Treaty.

 

Schedule 1 – Treaty on Extradition between Australia and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay

This schedule contains the text of the Treaty.