TNAG-1216-FCO40-1519-Extradition-treaties-between-Hong-Kong-and-other-countries-1982 — Page 47

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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