PART 1 - PRELIMINARY
1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Extradition Act.
2 Commencement
This Act shall come into operation on a date to be fixed by the Minister.3
3 Purpose
The purposes of this Act are:
(a) to codify the law relating to the extradition of persons from Tuvalu; and
(b) to facilitate the making of requests for extradition by Tuvalu to other countries; and
(c) to enable Tuvalu to carry out its obligations under extradition treaties.
4 Interpretation
(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
“citizen of Tuvalu” has the meaning given by the Citizenship Act;
“comity country” means a country other than a Commonwealth country, a Pacific Island country or a treaty country;
“Commonwealth country” means a country that is specified in Schedule 1;
“country” includes:
(a) a colony, territory or protectorate of a country; and
(b) a territory for the international relations of which a country is responsible; and
(c) a ship or aircraft owned by, or registered in, a country;
“endorsed warrant” means a warrant that has been issued in a Pacific Island country and endorsed under section 30;
“extradition country” means:
(a) a Commonwealth country; or
(b) a Pacific Island country; or
(c) a comity country that is declared by the regulations to be an extradition country; or
(d) a comity country certified by the Prime Minister to be an extradition country for the purpose of a particular extradition request.
“extradition offence” has the meaning given by section 5;
“extradition request” means a request in writing by a country for the surrender of a person to the country;
“extradition treaty”, in relation to a country, means a treaty:
(a) to which the country and Tuvalu are parties (whether or not any other country is also a party); and
(b) that relates wholly or partly to the surrender of persons accused or convicted of offences;
“foreign escort officer” means a representative of the country to whom a person is to be surrendered who is authorised by that country to escort the person from Tuvalu to that country;
“ICPO-Interpol” means the International Criminal Police Organisation;
“law of a country” includes a law in force in any part of the country;
“magistrate” means a person appointed as a magistrate under the Magistrates Courts Act;
“original warrant” means a warrant issued in a Pacific Island country for the arrest of a person;
“police officer” means a member of the Tuvalu Police Force;
“political offence”, in relation to a country, means an offence against the law of the country that is of a political character (whether because of the circumstances in which it is committed or otherwise and whether or not there are competing political parties in the country), but does not include:
(a) an offence:
(i) that is constituted by conduct of a kind referred to in a multilateral treaty to which Tuvalu is a party; and
(ii) for which parties have an obligation to extradite or prosecute; or
(b) the offence of genocide; or
(c) an offence of:
(i) murder, kidnapping or other attack on the person or liberty; or
(ii) threatening or attempting to commit, or participating as an accomplice in, murder, kidnapping or other attack on the person or liberty, of the head of State, head of Government or Minister of the Government of the country or a member of his or her immediate family; or
(d) any other offence that Tuvalu and the other country have agreed will not be treated as a political offence for the purposes of extradition;
“prison” includes a gaol, police cell or other place where a person is ordered under this Act to be detained;
“provisional arrest warrant” means:
(a) where the expression is used in Part 2—a warrant, in accordance with Form 1 in Schedule 4, issued under section 8; or
(b) where the expression is used in Part 4—a warrant, in accordance with Form 2 in Schedule 4, issued under section 2;.
“requesting country” means a country that is seeking the surrender of a person from Tuvalu;
“Pacific Island country” means a country:
(a) that is a member of the Pacific Forum; and
(b) that is specified in Schedule 2;
“specialty undertaking” means an undertaking by a requesting country about the treatment of a person whose surrender is sought by the requesting country;
“surrender offence” means an offence for which surrender is sought;
“surrender warrant” means:
(a) where the expression is used in Part 2 — a warrant, in accordance with Form 3 in Schedule 4, issued under section 13 or 19; or
(b) where the expression is used in Part 4—a warrant, in accordance with Form 4 in Schedule 4, issued under section 35 or 36;
“temporary surrender warrant” means:
(a) where the expression is used in Part 2—a warrant, in accordance with Form 5 in Schedule 4, issued under section 21; or
(b) where the expression is used in Part 4—a warrant, in accordance with Form 6 in Schedule 4, issued under section 39;
“treaty” includes a convention, protocol, or agreement between 2 or more countries.
“treaty country” means a country:
(a) with which Tuvalu has an extradition treaty; and
(b) that is specified in Schedule 3;
“writing” includes facsimile, electronic mail and any other means of communication that can be reproduced in printed form.
(2) A Note is for information only and does not form part of this Act.
5 Extradition offence
(1) An offence is an extradition offence if:
(a) it is an offence against a law of the requesting country for which the maximum penalty is death or imprisonment, or other deprivation of liberty, for a period of 1 year or more; and
(b) the conduct that constitutes the offence, if committed in Tuvalu, would constitute an offence (however described) in Tuvalu for which the maximum penalty is death or imprisonment, or other deprivation of liberty, for a period of 1 year or more.
(2) In determining whether conduct constitutes an offence, regard may be had to only some of the acts and omissions that make up the conduct.
(3) In determining the maximum penalty for an offence for which no statutory penalty is imposed, regard shall be had to the level of penalty that can be imposed by any court in the requesting country for the offence.
(4) An offence may be an extradition offence although:
(a) it is an offence against a law of the requesting country relating to taxation, customs duties or other revenue matters or relating to foreign exchange control; and
(b) Tuvalu does not impose a duty, tax, impost or control of that kind.
6 Extradition objection
There is an extradition objection to a request for the surrender of a person if:
(a) the extradition offence is regarded as a political offence; or
(b) there are substantial grounds for believing that surrender of the person is sought for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing the person because of his or her race, religion, nationality, political opinions, sex or status, or for a political offence in the requesting country; or
(c) on surrender, the person may be prejudiced at his or her trial, or punished, detained or restricted in his or her personal liberty, because of his or her race, religion, nationality, political opinions, sex or status; or
(d) the offence is an offence under the military law, but not also under the ordinary criminal law, of Tuvalu; or
(e) final judgement has been given against the person in Tuvalu, or in a third country, for the offence; or
(f) under the law of the requesting country or Tuvalu, the person has become immune from prosecution or punishment because of lapse of time, amnesty or any other reason; or
(g) the person has already been acquitted or pardoned in the requesting country or Tuvalu, or punished under the law of that country or Tuvalu, for the offence or another offence constituted by the same conduct as the extradition offence; or
(h) the judgment has been given in the person’s absence and there is no provision in the law of the requesting country entitling the person to appear before a court and raise any defence the person may have.
