Case C‑220/18 PPU

ML

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Hanseatisches Oberlandesgericht in Bremen)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Urgent preliminary ruling procedure — Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters — European arrest warrant –Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA — Article 1(3) — Surrender procedures between Member States — Conditions for execution — Grounds for non-execution — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Article 4 — Prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment — Detention conditions in the issuing Member State — Scope of the assessment undertaken by the executing judicial authorities — Existence of a legal remedy in the issuing Member State — Assurance given by the authorities of that Member State)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 25 July 2018

1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling—Urgent preliminary ruling procedure—Conditions—Person in custody—Outcome of the dispute liable to have an impact on that custody

   (Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 23a; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 107)

2. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters—Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States—Surrender to the executing judicial authorities of convicted or suspected persons—Obligation to observe the fundamental rights and principles—Scope—Limits

   (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 4; Council Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299)

3. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters—Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States—Article 15(2—Surrender to the executing judicial authorities of convicted or suspected persons—Consequences of a finding that there is a risk of inhuman or degrading treatment of the person in respect of whom a European arrest warrant has been issued

   (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 4; Council Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, Art. 15(2))

4. Judicial cooperation in criminal matters—Framework Decision on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States—Surrender to the executing judicial authorities of convicted or suspected persons—Obligation to observe the fundamental rights and principles—Detention conditions in the issuing Member State—Risk of inhuman or degrading treatment—Verification by the executing judicial authority—Scope

   (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 4; Council Framework Decision 2002/584, as amended by Framework Decision 2009/299, Arts 1(3), 5 and 6(1))

1.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 43-46)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 54-62)

3.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 63-66)

4.  Article 1(3), Article 5 and Article 6(1) of Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States, as amended by Council Framework Decision 2009/299/JHA of 26 February 2009, must be interpreted as meaning that when the executing judicial authority has information showing there to be systemic or generalised deficiencies in the conditions of detention in the prisons of the issuing Member State, the accuracy of which must be verified by the referring court in the light of all the available updated data:

   –

   the executing judicial authority cannot rule out a real risk that the person in respect of whom a European arrest warrant has been issued for the purpose of executing a custodial sentence will be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment within the meaning of Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, merely because that person has, in the issuing Member State, a legal remedy permitting him to challenge the conditions of his detention, although the existence of such a remedy may be taken into account by the executing judicial authority for the purpose of deciding on the surrender of the person concerned;

   –	the executing judicial authority is required to assess only the conditions of detention in the prisons in which, according to the information available to it, it is likely that that person will be detained, including on a temporary or transitional basis;

   –

   the executing judicial authority must assess, to that end, solely the actual and precise conditions of detention of the person concerned that are relevant for determining whether that person will be exposed to a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment within the meaning of Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights;

   –

   the executing judicial authority may take into account information provided by authorities of the issuing Member State other than the issuing judicial authority, such as, in particular, an assurance that the individual concerned will not be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment within the meaning of Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

   (see para.117, operative part)