Interpol recently published data on deleted or cancelled notices and diffusions in 2024. At present, information is only available on four of Interpol’s eight notices and diffusions: red, green, yellow, and blue.
Compliance requirements for approving a notice or diffusion
While any Interpol member state can issue a notice or diffusion, prior to approval each request is first reviewed by the Notices and Diffusions Task Force (NDTF), which conducts a comprehensive legal compliance and quality review prior to submitting the request to the General Secretariat for publishing.
NDTF review guidance
The NDTF’s review process is informed by four key Interpol documents:
- Interpol’s Constitution
- The Rules on the Processing of Data (RPD)
- The Repository of Practice on Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution (ROP)
- General Assembly Resolutions
Rules on Processing of Data
These rules address requirements such as judicial data, purpose or intent, personal identity information, and other criteria.
Repository of Practice on Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution
Notices and diffusions must be compliant with Articles 2 and 3 of the constitution, which state respectively that Interpol must “act in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and cannot “undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”.
General Assembly Resolutions
The General Assembly, Interpol’s supreme governing body, has numerous resolutions that have “interpreted these articles with regard to areas such as terrorism, crimes against humanity, and refugees”.
NDTF review process
The review process consists of three stages:
- Accept the request from a national central bureau (NCB) or international criminal court and tribunal
- Review the request
- Approve or deny the request
Some notices may take longer to review due to compliance risks, geopolitical factors, and other information that could indicate a request was objectionable. In such instances, the NDTF may take steps such as seeking more information from requesting NCBs.
Review outcomes
If a notice or diffusion is approved by the NDTF and published by the General Secretariat, NCBs in member countries will be alerted. If a notice or diffusion is denied, the requesting NCB will be notified of the decision and given the reasons for the decision. Additionally, if a request violated Article 2(1) and 3 of the constitution, it will not be reconsidered.
If data on a request was sent to member countries prior to review, the General Secretariat “will inform NCBs in all recipient countries of the decision and request that they update their national databases accordingly”. In addition, all member countries are alerted to red notice deletions by the General Secretariat every 24 hours.
Refused or cancelled notices and diffusions in 2024
For those notices whose data Interpol has made public, three reasons were given as to why a notice or diffusion would be either cancelled or refused:
- The request was not in line with Article 2 of Interpol’s constitution
- The request violated Article 3 of Interpol’s constitution
- Other reasons, which can include a lack of cooperation from a requesting country, necessary criteria not being met, and more.
Interpol noted that for some of the figures published “some non-compliant decisions may arise from more than one legal basis (e.g., both on Articles 2 and 3 grounds)” and don’t include “decisions made by the Commission for the Control of Interpol’s Files” (CCF).
Refusal or cancellation statistics
Refusals or cancellations of red notices and diffusions in 2024
- Non-compliance with Article 2: 111
- Non-compliance with Article 3: 194
- Other reasons: 2,157
Total refusals or cancellations: 2,462
Refusals or cancellations of green notices and diffusions in 2024
- Non-compliance with Article 2: 0
- Non-compliance with Article 3: 0
- Other reasons: 22
Total refusals or cancellations: 22
Refusals or cancellations of yellow notices and diffusions in 2024
- Non-compliance with Article 2: 4
- Non-compliance with Article 3: 0
- Other reasons: 105
Total refusals or cancellations: 109
Refusals or cancellations of blue notices and diffusions in 2024
- Non-compliance with Article 2: 8
- Non-compliance with Article 3: 15
- Other reasons: 223
Total refusals or cancellations: 246
CCF reporting data
The data presented by Interpol only accounts for actions taken by the NDTF; no information is provided on work conducted by the CCF in 2024. Details concerning decisions made by the CCF can be found in the organisation’s annual activity reports, including data on complaints, which the CCF describes as “requests for the correction and/or deletion of data (if any) recorded in Interpol’s files”. However, the report for 2024 has not yet been made available.
Non-compliant red notice requests and outcomes
If the General Secretariat determines that a red notice is not compliant with Articles 2 or 3 of the constitution, it will be removed from Interpol’s databases and the NCB of the requesting country will be informed to not misuse Interpol’s channels. Member countries are also informed of CCF red notice deletion decisions and are reminded to update their databases and not misuse Interpol channels.
If a member country regularly violates notice and diffusion request requirements, they may face consequences such as having all future requests undergo enhanced reviews and even a “partial or full suspension of processing rights, including the right to request Notices or Diffusions”.
Key takeaways
All notice and diffusion requests made by Interpol member states undergo a thorough review process by either the NDTF or the CCF to determine suitability for publishing by the General Secretariat. Should any country consistently violate compliance regulations, both temporary and corrective measures can be used to enable an improvement in member states’ use of Interpol’s channels.
