The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) interpreted in its case-law the notion of ‘issuing judicial authority’ under Article 6(1) of the Framework Decision on the European Arrest Warrant and the surrender procedures between the Member States (EAW FD). In 2019, the CJEU clarified in several judgments the requirements under which public prosecutors can be regarded as ‘issuing judicial authority’ for the purposes of the EAW FD. This case-law raised many questions regarding the legal position of public prosecutors in the Member States. Therefore, Eurojust and the European Judicial Network (EJN) worked on a questionnaire and compilation of replies from the national authorities of the Member States and Norway, with the aim of assisting practitioners with the application of the EAW FD in this field (last version, Council document no. 7182/1/20 of 6 April 2020).

In November 2020, the CJEU transposed the case-law on the ‘issuing judicial authority’ and the requirements developed therein in relation to public prosecutors also to the notion of ‘executing judicial authority’ under Article 6(2), Article 27(3)(g) and Article 27(4) EAW FD. Following this judgment, the Council and the Commission collected relevant information relating to the ‘executing judicial authorities’ within the Member States (Council document no. 13820/20).

Upon agreement with the Council, Eurojust and the EJN (in close cooperation with the Commission) merged the information on ‘issuing judicial authorities’ (Council document no. 7182/1/20) with the information on ‘executing judicial authorities’ (Council document no. 13820/20) into a single updated compilation.