etc should not be specifically excluded from extradition law, but they
should be required to meet the same criteria for extradition as any
other offence, including the double criminality law. The Working Party
discerned a difference between 'broad' fiscal offences which may in
some cases be committed against the national revenue, but may equally
be committed against some other party, eg false accounting and those
fiscal in a narrow sense which may be prosecuted only under fiscal laws.
19. Since the Working Party reported we have had occasion to seek
Ministerial agreement to a proposal that the 'Community Crimes' Treaty
which we had argued should be limited in scope to offences against the
financial interests of the European Community and should provide for
extradition only for fiscal offences involving purely Community taxes
and duties, should also apply to VAT, which is in large part a domestic
tax with a Community element. Ministers were reluctantly persuaded
to agree but it is clear from the exchanges that Ministers would
not be favourable to any wider relaxation of the principle that one
State does not enforce the fiscal laws of another.
LINE TO TAKE
General:
20.
The UK has already added to the list of offences for
which a fugitive may be returned and the proposed extension to the
list of returnable offences under the Scheme would be acceptable.
21.
List Method: The UK recognises the advantages of adopting the
list method of identifying extradition crimes but any change would
require amendment to UK law.
22. Fiscal Offences: We are aware that some countries have been pre-
pared to relax the accepted rule that one State does not enforce the
fiscal laws of another, but that in practice we see particular difficulty
in satisfying the traditional concept of double criminality in such
cases and therefore while there may be scope for ensuring 'broad' fiscal
offences are satisfactorily covered by extradition arrangements we see
no particular scope in extending powers to cover 'narrow' fiscal
offences.
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