Red Notices and INTERPOL: When will a Red Notice be removed?

INTERPOL issued 13,377 Red Notices in 2019, as outlined in its annual report. A Red Notice is an electronic alert seeking the detention of a person for extradition.

Red Notices can be misused in a variety of ways. They may be issued for political purposes, or in ways that violate human rights. Red Notices can also be issued where the objective seriousness of the situation doesn’t warrant the Notice, or where extradition is never sought.

INTERPOL strives to ensure that any Notices issued are compliant with its Constitution, rules for the processing of data, and international legal standards.

In instances where a Red Notice is not compliant with INTERPOL’s standards, it may be deleted. Despite the high number of Notices issued in 2019, only a handful were deleted.

 

The databases powering INTERPOL’s issuance of Red Notices

INTERPOL has 18 specialised databases containing more than 100 million police files. Databases include those relating to stolen and lost travel documents (SLTD), fingerprints, stolen vehicles, firearms, biometrics, and drugs analysis.

These databases are at the heart of INTERPOL’s work and support its issuance of Red Notices and other alerts such as Diffusions. A Diffusion is issued for the same purpose as a Notice but sent directly by a member country or an international entity to the countries of their choice.

 

INTERPOL’s 2019 decisions

INTERPOL provides a summary of decisions relating to requests to delete Notices. Most of these cases relate to Red Notices, with two relating to Diffusions.

Decisions are marked as either:

• Compliant – the Notice was compliant with INTERPOL’s standards. The existing Notice may have also been updated based on the submission.
• Not compliant – the Notice was not compliant with INTERPOL’s standards. It can be inferred that as a result, the Notice was deleted.

 

Notice Type	Issue / What was questioned about the Notice?	Decision
Red Notice	Unfunded cheques	Not compliant
Diffusion	Article 2 of INTERPOL’s Constitution (right to health in sickness) Lack of action for extradition	Compliant with update
Red Notice	Private matter Lack of action for extradition	Compliant with update
Red Notice	Article 2 of INTERPOL’s Constitution (right to health in sickness)	Not compliant
Red Notice	Article 2 of INTERPOL’s Constitution (right to life) Non bis in idem – which translates literally from Latin as “not twice against the same [thing]”	Not compliant
Red Notice	Accuracy/Quality International interest/Seriousness	Not compliant
Red Notice	International interest/Seriousness Lack of action for extradition	Compliant
Red Notice	Accuracy/Quality Political character Private matter	Compliant
Diffusion	Article 2 of INTERPOL’s Constitution (right to movement within a state) Trial in absentia	Compliant

 

Case example

INTERPOL publishes accounts of the key factors it has considered in making its decisions regarding the deletion of Red Notices.

You can review the details of the first case mentioned in the table above relating to unfunded cheques. In this case, the applicant was successful in having the Red Notice deleted because the case was of a civil rather than a criminal nature, and it lacked interest for the purpose of international police cooperation.

Nyman Gibson Miralis provides expert advice and representation in INTERPOL-related criminal investigations and is experienced in having Red Notices successfully removed.

Contact us if you require assistance.