Extradition
TIAS 8234
27 U.S.T. 957; 1974 U.S.T. LEXIS 130
May 14, 1974, Date-Signed
May 8, 1976, Date-In-Force
STATUS:
[*1] Treaty signed at Washington May 14, 1974;
Ratification advised by the Senate of the United States of America December 1, 1975;
Ratified by the President of the United States of America December 16, 1975;
Ratified by Australia December 22, 1975;
Ratifications exchanged at Canberra April 8, 1976;
Proclaimed by the President of the United States of America May 5, 1976;
Entered into force May 8, 1976.
TREATY ON EXTRADITION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND AUSTRALIA
TEXT:
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
CONSIDERING THAT:
The Treaty on Extradition between the United States of America and Australia was signed at Washington on
May 14, 1974, the original of which Treaty is hereto annexed;
The Senate of the United States of America by its resolution of December 1, 1975, two-thirds of the Senators
present concurring therein, gave its advice and consent to ratification of the Treaty;
The Treaty was ratified by the President of the United States of America on December 16, 1975, in pursuance
of the advice and consent of the Senate, and has been duly ratified on the part of Australia;
The respective instruments of ratification were exchanged at Canberra on April [*2] 8, 1976;
It is provided in Article XXI of the Treaty that the Treaty shall enter into force thirty days after the exchange
of instruments of ratification;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, proclaim and make public the
Treaty, to the end that it shall be observed and fulfilled with good faith on and after May 8, 1976, by the
United States of America and by the citizens of the United States of America and all other persons subject to
the jurisdiction thereof.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I have signed this proclamation and caused the Seal of the United States of
America to be affixed.
DONE at the city of Washington this fifth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred
seventy-six and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundredth.
The United States of America and Australia, desiring to make more effective the cooperation of the two
countries for the reciprocal extradition of offenders, agree as follows:
ARTICLE I
Each Contracting Party agrees, under the conditions and circumstances established by this Treaty,
reciprocally to deliver up persons found in its territory who have been charged with or convicted [*3] of any
of the offenses mentioned in Article II of this Treaty committed within the territory of the other Contracting
Party, or outside that territory under the conditions specified in Article IV of this Treaty.
ARTICLE II
(1) Persons shall be delivered up according to the provisions of this Treaty for any of the following offenses
provided these offenses are punishable by the laws of both Contracting Parties by a term of imprisonment
exceeding one year or by death:
1. Murder or willful murder; assault with intent to commit murder.
2. Manslaughter.
3. Aggravated or willful wounding or injuring; assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
4. Unlawful throwing or application of any corrosive or injurious substances upon the person of
another.
5. Rape; indecent assault, including unlawful sexual acts with or upon children.
6. Illegal abortion.
7. Procuring, or trafficking in, women or young persons for immoral purposes; living on the earnings
of prostitution.
8. Abandoning or exposing a child when the life of that child is or is likely to be injured or
endangered.
9. Bigamy.
10. Kidnapping; child stealing; abduction; false imprisonment.
11. Robbery.
12. Burglary; housebreaking or any similar [*4] offense.
13. Larceny.
14. Embezzlement.
15. Obtaining any property, money or valuable securities by false pretenses or other form of
deception.
16. An offense against the law relating to bribery.
17. Extortion.
18. Receiving any property, money or valuable securities knowing the same to have been
unlawfully obtained.
19. Fraud by an agent, bailee, banker, factor or trustee, by a director or officer of a company or
by a promoter of a company, whether existing or not.
20. An offense relating to counterfeiting or forgery.
21. Perjury; subornation of perjury; conspiring to defeat the course of justice.
22. Arson.
23. An act done with the intention of endangering the safety of any person traveling upon a
railway or in any aircraft or vessel or other means of transportation.
24. Any seizure or exercise of control, by force or violence or threat of force or violence, or by
any other form of intimidation, of an aircraft.
25. Piracy, by statute or by law of nations; revolt on board a vessel against the authority of the
master of the vessel.
26. Malicious injury to property.
27. An offense against the bankruptcy laws.
28. An offense against the laws relating to narcotics, dangerous drugs or [*5] psychotropic
substances.
29. Dealing in slaves.
(2) Extradition shall also be granted for any other offenses that are made extraditable under the extradition
laws of Australia and which are felonies under the laws of the United States of America.
(3) Extradition shall also be granted for any offense against a federal law of the United States of America of
which one of the above-mentioned offenses is a substantial element, even if transporting or transportation or
the use of the mails or of interstate facilities is also an element of the specific offense.
(4) Extradition shall also be granted for aiding, abetting, counseling or procuring the commission of, being an
accessory before or after the fact to, or attempting or conspiring to commit, any of the offenses mentioned in
the preceding paragraphs of this Article.
(5) If extradition is requested for any offense mentioned in a preceding paragraph of this Article and that
offense is punishable under the laws of both Contracting Parties by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year
or by death, that offense shall be extraditable under the provisions of this Treaty whether or not the laws of
both Contracting Parties would place that [*6] offense within the same category of offenses made
extraditable by that preceding paragraph of this Article and whether or not the laws of the requested State
denominate the offense by the same terminology.
ARTICLE III
(1) For the purposes of this Treaty, the territory of a Contracting Party means all the territory under the
jurisdiction of that Contracting Party, including airspace and territorial waters, and also includes –
(a) any vessel registered in any territory under the jurisdiction of that Contracting Party; and
(b) any aircraft registered in any such territory provided that the aircraft is in flight when the
relevant offense is committed.
(2) For the purposes of this Treaty –
(a) the territory under the jurisdiction of a Contracting Party includes the Territories for the
international relations of which that Contracting Party is responsible;
(b) an aircraft shall be considered in flight from the moment when the power is applied for the
purpose of take-off until the moment when the landing run ends.
ARTICLE IV
When the offense for which extradition has been requested has been committed outside the territory of the
requesting State –
(a) if the United States of America [*7] is the requested State – the executive authority of the
United States of America; or
(b) if Australia is the requested State – the
Attorney-General of Australia,
shall have the power to grant the extradition if the laws of the requested State provide for jurisdiction over
such an offense committed in similar circumstances.
ARTICLE V
(1) Neither of the Contracting Parties shall be bound to deliver up its own nationals under this Treaty but the
executive authority of each Contracting Party shall have the power to deliver them up if, in its discretion, it
considers that it is proper to do so.
(2) For the purposes of this Article –
(a) a reference to the executive authority of a Contracting Party shall, in the case of Australia,
be construed as a reference to the Attorney-General of Australia;
(b) Australian protected persons shall be deemed to be nationals of Australia; and
(c) the nationality of a person shall be determined to be that which he held at the time when he
was charged with the offense for which his extradition is requested.
ARTICLE VI
Extradition shall be granted only if the evidence is found sufficient, according to the laws in the territory
where the person whose [*8] extradition is requested is found, either to justify his trial or committal for trial
if the offense with which he is charged or its equivalent had been committed in that territory or to prove that
he is the identical person convicted by the courts of the requesting State.
ARTICLE VII
(1) Extradition shall not be granted in any of the following circumstances:
(a) when the person whose extradition is requested is being proceeded against, has been tried
and discharged or punished, or has been pardoned, in the territory of the requested State for the
offense for which his extradition is requested;
(b) when the prosecution for the offense has become barred by lapse of time according to the
laws of the requesting State; or
(c) when the offense in respect of which extradition is requested is of a political character, or the
person whose extradition is requested proves that the extradition request has been made for the
purpose of trying or punishing him for an offense of a political character.
(2) If any question arises whether a case comes within the provisions of subparagraph (c) of paragraph (1) of
this Article, the requested State shall decide that question.
ARTICLE VIII
If, under [*9] the law of the requesting State, an offense for which the extradition of a person is requested,
or any other offense for which he may be detained or tried under paragraph (1) of Article XIV, is subject to a
penalty of death but the law of the requested State does not provide for such a penalty in a similar case, the
requested State may recommend to the requesting State that any punishment imposed for any of those
offenses be a less severe punishment.
ARTICLE IX
When the person whose extradition is requested is being proceeded against or is serving a sentence in the
territory of the requested State for an offense other than that for which extradition has been requested, his
surrender may be deferred until the conclusion of the proceedings and the full execution of any punishment
that may be or may have been imposed on him.
ARTICLE X
The determination that extradition based upon the request therefor should or should not be granted shall be
made in accordance with the law of the requested State and the person whose extradition is sought shall
have the right to use such remedies and recourses as are provided by that law.
ARTICLE XI
(1) The request for extradition shall be made through [*10] the diplomatic channel.
(2) The request shall be accompanied by a description of the person sought, a statement of the facts of the
case, the text of the applicable laws of the requesting State including the law defining the offense, the law
prescribing the punishment for the offense and the law relating to the limitation of the legal proceedings.
(3) When the request relates to a person who has not yet been convicted, it must also be accompanied by a
warrant of arrest issued by a judge or other judicial officer of the requesting State and by such evidence as,
according to the laws of the requested State, would justify his trial or committal for trial if the offense had
been committed there, including evidence proving the person requested is the person to whom the warrant of
arrest refers.
(4) When the request relates to a person already convicted, it must be accompanied by the judgment of
conviction and sentence, if any, passed upon him in the territory of the requesting State, by a statement, if
applicable, showing how much of the sentence has not been served and by evidence proving that the person
requested is the person to whom the judgment refers.
(5) The warrant of arrest and [*11] deposition or other evidence, given under oath or affirmed, and the
judicial documents establishing the existence of the conviction, or certified copies of those documents, shall
be admitted in evidence in the examination of the request for extradition when –
(a) in the case of a request by Australia – those documents or certified copies bear the
signature, or are accompanied by the attestation, of a judge, magistrate or officer of Australia or
are authenticated by the official seal of the Attorney-General and, in any case, are certified by
the principal diplomatic or consular officer of the United States of America in Australia; or
(b) in the case of a request by the United States of America – the warrant, if any, bears an
original signature, or the other documents are certified, by a judge, magistrate or officer of the
United States of America and, in any case, are authenticated by the oath of a witness or sealed
with the official seal of the Department of State on behalf of the Secretary of State or of the
Department of Justice on behalf of the Attorney General.
ARTICLE XII
(1) In case of urgency a Contracting Party may apply for the provisional arrest of the person sought [*12]
pending the presentation of the request for extradition through the diplomatic channel.
(2) The application shall contain a description of the person sought, an indication of intention to request the
extradition of the person sought and a statement of the existence of a warrant of arrest or a judgment of
conviction against that person, and such further information, if any, as would be necessary to justify the issue
of a warrant of arrest had the offense been committed, or the person sought been convicted, in the territory
of the requested State.
(3) On receipt of such an application the requested State shall take the necessary steps to secure the arrest
of the person claimed.
(4) A person arrested upon such an application shall be set at liberty upon the expiration of forty-five days
from the date of his arrest if a request for his extradition accompanied by the documents specified in Article XI
has not been received.
(5) Paragraph (4) of this Article shall not prevent the institution of proceedings with a view to extraditing the
person sought if the request is subsequently received.
ARTICLE XIII
(1) If the requested State requires additional evidence or information to enable it to [*13] decide on the
request for extradition, that State may request that such evidence or information be furnished within such
period as it specifies.
(2) If the person sought is under arrest and the additional evidence or information submitted as aforesaid is
not sufficient or if such evidence or information is not received within the period specified by the requested
State, he shall be discharged from custody.
(3) The discharge of a person from custody under paragraph (2) of this Article shall not bar the requesting
State from submitting another request in respect of the same offense.
ARTICLE XIV
(1) A person extradited under this Treaty may be detained, tried or punished in the territory of the requesting
State for any offense mentioned in Article II for which the person could be convicted upon proof of the facts
upon which the request for extradition was based.
(2) Except as provided in paragraph (1) of this Article, a person extradited under this Treaty shall not be
detained, tried or punished in the territory of the requesting State for an offense other than that for which
extradition has been granted, or be extradited by that State to a third State, unless –
(a) he has left the [*14] territory of the requesting State after his extradition and has
voluntarily returned to it;
(b) he has not left the territory of the requesting State within thirty days after being free to do
so; or
(c) the offense concerned is one for which the requested State has consented to his detention,
trial or punishment or to his extradition to a third State and is an offense mentioned in Article II.
(3) A request for the consent of the requested State under subparagraph (c) of paragraph (2) of this Article
shall be accompanied by such information and documents as are requested by that State.
(4) This Article does not apply to offenses committed after the extradition.
ARTICLE XV
A requested State, upon receiving two or more requests for the extradition of the same person either for the
same offense, or for different offenses, shall determine to which of the requesting States it will extradite the
person sought, taking into consideration the circumstances and particularly the possibility of a later extradition
between the requesting States, the seriousness of each offense, the place where the offense was committed,
the nationality and residence of the person sought, the dates upon which [*15] the requests were received
and the provisions of any extradition agreements between the requested State and the other requesting State
or States.
ARTICLE XVI
(1) The requested State shall promptly communicate to the requesting State through the diplomatic channel
the decision on the request for extradition.
(2) Where extradition of a person for an offense is granted, the person shall be conveyed by the appropriate
authorities of the requested State to a port or airport in the territory of that State agreed between that
State and the requesting State.
(3) If a warrant or order for the extradition of a person sought has been issued by the competent authority
and he is not removed from the territory of the requested State within such time as is prescribed by the laws
of that State, he may be set at liberty, and the requested State may subsequently refuse to extradite that
person for the same offense.
(4) Australia is not required to extradite a person before the expiration of fifteen days after the date on
which he has been held judicially to be liable to extradition, or, if proceedings for a writ of habeas corpus have
been brought, before the expiration of fifteen days after the final [*16] decision of the competent court has
been given.
ARTICLE XVII
(1) To the extent permitted under the law of the requested State and subject to the rights of third parties,
which shall be duly respected, all articles found in the requested State that have been acquired as a result of
the offense or may be required as evidence shall, if the requesting State so requests, be surrendered if
extradition is granted.
(2) Subject to the qualifications of paragraph (1) of this Article, the above-mentioned articles shall, if the
requested State so requests, be surrendered to the requesting State even if the extradition, having been
agreed to, cannot be carried out owing to the death or escape of the person sought.
(3) Where the law of the requested State or the rights of third parties so require, any articles so surrendered
shall be returned to the requested State free of charge if that State so requests.
ARTICLE XVIII
(1) Expenses related to the transportation of the person sought to the requesting State shall be paid by the
requesting State.
(2) The requested State shall make all necessary arrangements for, and meet the cost of, the representation
of the requesting State in any proceedings arising [*17] out of a request for extradition.
(3) No pecuniary claim, arising out of the arrest, detention, examination and surrender of persons sought
under the terms of this Treaty, shall be made by the requested State against the requesting State.
ARTICLE XIX
(1) The right to transport through the territory of one of the Contracting Parties a person surrendered to the
other Contracting Party by a third State shall be granted on request made through the diplomatic channel.
(2) In the case of a national of the requested State, the request shall establish that conditions are present
which would warrant extradition of the person by the State of transit.
(3) The request may be refused if reasons of public order are opposed to the transit.
(4) Permission for the transit of a person surrendered shall include authorization for accompanying officials to
hold that person in custody or request and obtain assistance from authorities in the State of transit in
maintaining custody.
(5) The Party to which the person has been extradited shall reimburse the Party through whose territory such
person is transported for any expenses incurred by the latter in connection with such transportation.
ARTICLE XX
This [*18] Treaty applies to offenses mentioned in Article II committed before, on or after the date on which
this Treaty enters into force, provided that no extradition shall be granted for an offense committed before
that date which was not an offense under the laws of both Contracting Parties at the time of its commission.
ARTICLE XXI
(1) This Treaty is subject to ratification and the instruments of ratification shall be exchanged in Canberra as
soon as possible.
(2) This Treaty shall enter into force thirty days after the exchange of instruments of ratification. (May 8, 1976.)
(3) This Treaty may be terminated by either Contracting Party giving notice of termination to the other
Contracting Party at any time and the termination shall be effective six months after the date of receipt of
such notice.
(4) This Treaty shall terminate and replace, as between the Contracting Parties to the present Treaty, the
Treaty on Extradition between the United States and Great Britain of December 22, 1931, n2 as made
applicable to Australia. [*19]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -Footnotes- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
n2 TS 849; 47 Stat. 2122.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – -End Footnotes- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, being duly authorized thereto by their respective Governments, have
signed this Treaty.
DONE at Washington this fourteenth day of May, 1974.
SIGNATORIES:
[SEAL]
GERALD R. FORD
By the President:
JOSEPH JOHN SISCO
Acting Secretary of State
FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
FOR AUSTRALIA: