RETURN BY CONSENT
73. The Scheme makes no provision for return by consent and Professor Shearer recommends that a new provision be added allowing for the fugitive to waive committal proceedings but to retain the protection of speciality.
UK POSITION
74. The Fugitive Offenders Act makes no provision for a defendant to waive the procedures of the Act. The need for a simplified procedure for return is considered in chapter 13 of the Working Party Report. The Working Party identified 2 kinds of simplified procedure: the first a radically simplified procedure whereby the fugitive could be returned immediately with no facts having been established beyond those necessary to justify provisional arrest and no guarantee given by the requesting State that it would recognise any of the safeguards provided in UK extradition legislation; and secondly a facility for the United Kingdom, with the fugitive's consent, to waive the prima facie require- ment while retaining the other normal safeguards for the fugitive. Professor Shearer has therefore proposed a recommendation on the lines of the second procedure identified by the Working Party.
LINE TO TAKE
75. Although recommended by the Working Party Professor Shearer's proposal would be a radical departure from the traditional requirement of UK extradition and fugitive offenders legislation to require the establishment of a prima facie case. We do not know whether such a
proposal would be acceptable in the UK and we would be reluctant to see this provision included in the body of the Scheme and, if other States regard it as acceptable, would prefer it to be added to the supplemental provisions in Annex 2. It might be helpful to suggest to propose an alternative provision which would divide the simplified procedure into the 2 alternatives proposed by the Working Party.
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