Legal pact: Irish Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform Brian Lenihan and Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung sign the bilateral agreement on the surrender of fugitive offenders.

A bilateral agreement on the surrender of fugitive offenders has been signed with Ireland, the 17th pact Hong Kong has made to strengthen its capacity to deny safe haven to criminals.

Secretary for Justice Wong Yan Lung and Irish Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform Brian Lenihan signed the document in Dublin today.

The agreement sets out the conditions for the surrender of fugitive offenders between Hong Kong and Ireland, and contains the usual safeguards of similar international agreements.

These include:

* the double criminality rule: the conduct in respect of which a person's return is required must constitute an offence punishable by imprisonment for at least one year according to the law of both parties;

* death penalty: surrender shall be refused if the offence for which surrender of a fugitive is requested is punishable with the death penalty;

* the political offences rule: surrender shall be refused if the offence in question is an offence of a political character;

* the prima facie rule: a requirement that the evidence against the person sought by the requesting party should be sufficient to justify his committal for trial according to the law of the requested party;

* the specialty rule: a person returned must not be tried for offences other than those for which he was surrendered; and,

* protection against re-surrender to a third jurisdiction.

The agreement will come into force 30 days after both parties have notified each other that their respective requirements for the entry into force of the agreement have been complied with.