The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is a simplified cross-border judicial surrender procedure which is applied in all Member States of the European Union. The EAW is issued by a judicial authority in a first Member State (issuing Member State) to a judicial authority in a second requested Member State (executing Member State) for the purposes of a criminal prosecution or the execution of a custodial sentence.
Introduced in January 2004, the EAW is based on the principle of mutual recognition and is founded on trust and direct contact among the judicial authorities of the Member States. Replacing previous extradition tools that required political involvement, the instrument allows for faster and simpler surrender procedures by setting strict time limits for surrendering suspects and convicted persons, providing practitioners with a single standard form and establishing limited possibilities for refusal by the executing State.