Malta implemented Framework Decision 2008/909/JHA by means of Legal Notice 55 of 3 February 2012 into its laws namely Subsidiary Legislation 9.17 entitled “Custodial Sentences or Measures Involving Deprivation of Liberty Orders (Execution in the European Union) Regulations”.
As the title of the FD indicates, it is based on the principle of mutual recognition of judicial decisions that is a process whereby a decision which is taken by a judicial authority in one EU country is recognised, and where necessary, enforced by other EU countries as if it was a decision taken by the judicial authority of the latter countries.
It is pertinent to be noted that this instrument relates to criminal offences and that prisoner transfers with third countries are normally dealt with by bilateral or multilateral agreements concluded by the Member States themselves, or by other legal instruments.