One of the ECBA’s landmark deliverables for the European defence community: the ECBA Handbook on the European Arrest Warrant.
Produced through the sustained efforts of ECBA members and building on the joint ECBA/JUSTICE/ICJ report European Arrest Warrants: Ensuring an Effective Defence, the Handbook was developed to meet a concrete need identified by practitioners — many defence lawyers handle only a handful of EAW cases and require reliable, accessible guidance.
The Handbook sets out:
- how the EAW operates under the 2002 Framework Decision
- the procedural safeguards introduced by subsequent EU Directives
- the rights of requested persons and the role of defence counsel
- the defence options available under EU and fundamental rights law
- key CJEU and ECtHR case law, with signposts for further research
It has become a practical reference tool for defence lawyers across Europe when advice is needed at short notice.