The Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF) is the independent body that decides whether data held in INTERPOL’s systems — including Red Notices and diffusions — comply with INTERPOL’s own rules. It can order that data be corrected, blocked or deleted. The Commission publishes anonymised excerpts of selected decisions; this page indexes every excerpt it has published so far.
How often does the Commission order deletion?
Every published excerpt was read and classified by the operative paragraph of the decision itself — the part beginning “For these reasons, the Commission” — rather than by its summary or keywords. Where the Commission found the challenged data not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules, the data are deleted. Where it found them compliant, the notice stands, sometimes with a correction added to the file.
These figures describe the decisions INTERPOL has chosen to publish. They are not a success rate for applications generally: the Commission publishes only a small selection of its decisions, and that selection is not random. Read them as an indication of which arguments the Commission has accepted and rejected, not as odds.
What the Commission actually reviews
The Commission does not retry the criminal case. It does not decide guilt, weigh evidence the way a trial court would, or rule on whether an extradition should proceed. Its question is narrower: may INTERPOL lawfully keep processing this data?
In practice the recurring grounds fall into five families, and the database below is organised around them:
- Political persecution — Article 3 of INTERPOL’s Constitution forbids any intervention in matters of a political, military, religious or racial character. Cases involving opposition figures, asylum seekers and refugee status sit here.
- Human rights — Article 2 requires INTERPOL to act in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Risk of torture or ill-treatment, risk to life and serious health grounds are argued under it.
- Procedural defects — the validity of the underlying arrest warrant, due process and fair-hearing failures, conviction in absentia, ne bis in idem, and the absence of any real extradition action behind the notice.
- Data quality and seriousness — whether the description of the criminal activity is adequate, whether the case meets the international-interest and seriousness threshold, and whether INTERPOL’s channels are being used for their proper purpose.
- Commercial and family disputes — private matters dressed as crime, unpaid or dishonoured cheques, and parental custody conflicts.
Most decisions engage more than one ground at once, which is why the totals across the five families exceed the number of decisions.
The first of these families is covered in depth on its own page: how the Commission decides politically motivated Red Notices, including the predominance test and the evidence that has actually persuaded it.
The second family has its own page as well: how the Commission decides procedural challenges — the extradition stage, inaction by the requesting bureau, non-cooperation and revision.
The third family is covered as well: what the Commission requires of the description of the offence, and when a case is too petty for a Red Notice.
The fourth family — private disputes, dishonoured cheques and custody cases — has the highest deletion rate of the five.
And the fifth: how Article 2 and the spirit of the Universal Declaration are applied, including medical grounds and defence rights after surrender.
How to read an entry
Each entry gives the decision reference, the type of data challenged, the grounds the Commission dealt with, the outcome, and the operative wording of the ruling. The full anonymised excerpt is attached as a PDF exactly as INTERPOL published it. Names, dates, countries and case references are redacted at source by the Commission — that redaction is theirs, not ours, and it is why no entry identifies a country or an individual.
The published decisions
65 decisions
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Due process · Judicial data · Lack of action for extradition
A Red Notice exists to pursue extradition, not to bring a person in to assist an investigation: where the requesting state was still working through a mutual legal assistance treaty, the Commission found the case had not reached the stage of charge or extradition that Article 83(2)(b) of the RPD requires, and the data were deleted.
Concludes that the data challenged are not compl iant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data;
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Lack of action for extradition · Political character
General country reports, and extradition refusals granted to other people in the same case, do not establish that this applicant's own prosecution is political. The Commission will not assess a country's judicial system at large; it decides on information specific to the case before it.
Concludes that the data challenged is compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data subject to the recommendations below;
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Lack of action for extradition · Political character
Proximity to an ousted head of state and the timing of charges after a change of regime were not enough on their own. The Commission also held that issuing a valid Red Notice does not in itself infringe the freedom-of-movement right in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration, which is subject to lawful and proportionate limits.
Concludes that the data challenged is compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the recommendations below.
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Private matter · Unfunded cheques
Signing a cheque that could not be honoured, without any clear explanation of how that amounted to a criminal offence rather than a breach of contract, does not justify a Red Notice: the minimum criteria of Article 83(1)(a)(i) of the RPD were not met.
Concludes that the data challenged is not compl iant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data;
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Due process · Political character · Trial in absentia
Where several national courts, international bodies and arbitral tribunals had already found the wider prosecution politically motivated, the political elements predominated over the ordinary-crime elements. The Commission treated political context and the fairness of the proceedings as inseparable and deleted the data without reaching the remaining arguments.
Concludes that the data challenged are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data;
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Reexamination
On an application for revision, a refusal of extradition by another country was not a new fact where both states were still negotiating and the procedure remained in progress; revision was refused because the conditions of Article 19 of the Operating Rules were not met.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Concludes that the conditions to re-examine the case have not been met.
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Reexamination
Revision was accepted where the applicant produced facts the Commission had not previously considered and the requesting NCB did not answer the Commission's question about them; access to the data was blocked pending the review.
Concludes that the conditions to re-examine the case are met.
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Private matter
The conduct alleged amounted to a private commercial dispute — a claim of breach of contract — and no facts were supplied showing the applicant's effective personal participation in a criminal offence as head of the company.
Concludes that the data challenged is not compl iant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data;
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Ne bis in idem
The freedom of movement in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration is not infringed by the mere issuance of a valid Red Notice: the right is subject to lawful, necessary and proportionate limits under Article 29, and a notice rests on an order made by a competent authority.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Concludes that the data challenged is compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data ----------------
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Lack of action for extradition
A favourable decision obtained by a co-accused cannot simply be transposed: deletion in the related case rested on elements specific to that applicant, and a general context already known to the Commission is not a new fact for the purposes of revision.
Concludes that the conditions for revision are not met.
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Accuracy-Quality
After the requesting bureau checked the applicant's conviction data with the bureau of the country concerned and updated the Green Notice accordingly, the Commission found the notice met the criteria of Article 89 of the RPD, and revision did not lead to a different conclusion.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Due process · Political character
Acquittal on some of the charges showed the trial court had not accepted the prosecution evidence uncritically. General reports on torture and prison conditions, and press coverage of an unrelated incident, could not establish a violation of Article 2 in this applicant's case.
Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the update of the Applicant’s file.
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Political character · Private matter
Conduct that originates in a breach of civil or administrative rules can still be criminal for INTERPOL's purposes. The requesting bureau showed the charges had been brought lawfully and within its jurisdiction, so the Commission could not treat the matter as an essentially private dispute.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Lack of action for extradition · Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings · Political character
The judicial decision underlying the notice was not an arrest warrant within the meaning of Article 83(2)(b)(ii) of the Rules on the Processing of Data. That the earlier Red Notice had itself been used to obtain the later decision added to the doubts, and together with weak evidence of participation and political elements the data were found non-compliant.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files.
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Religious character
A religious dimension to a case is not enough by itself: the applicant must show that religious elements predominate over the ordinary criminal elements. The Green Notice stood because the requesting bureau supplied a proper public-safety assessment supporting the warning.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Family matter · Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings
Yellow Notices exist to locate a missing person. Where the requesting authorities already knew where the children were, having discussed it with the other bureau, the notices had achieved their purpose; the fact that the children were not under the father's guardianship did not make them unlocated.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged concerning the Applicant and the Children are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be d
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Due process
The Commission does not assess a country's law-enforcement or judicial system in the abstract and does not act on general statements about a country: a bare assertion of procedural irregularities, or the prospect of pre-trial detention, does not reach the threshold of an Article 2 violation.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data subject to updating the Applicant’s file with […].
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Lack of action for extradition · Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings · Political character
The decision relied on was not an arrest warrant within the meaning of Article 83(2)(b)(ii) of the Rules on the Processing of Data, and the first Red Notice had been used in obtaining the later judicial decision. Combined with doubts over the applicant's effective participation and the political elements around the proceedings, the data were found non-compliant.
Decides that the data challenged are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files.
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International interest-Seriousness · Trial in absentia · Unfunded cheques
Copies of all five court decisions showed the applicant's possible personal participation, the proper conduct of national procedure and the possibility of a fresh trial in his presence with counsel of his choosing, so the due-process objection to conviction in absentia failed.
Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Due process · International interest-Seriousness · Unfunded cheques
The conclusions of another state's independent judicial body about the risks the applicant would face on extradition cannot be ignored; together with doubts about the interest of the data for police cooperation, retention was incompatible with the spirit of the Universal Declaration.
Decides that the data challenged are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files.
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Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings · Political character · Purpose
A later judgment of the very court that had issued the arrest warrant, dismissing the prosecution case and criticising the investigation, carried strong weight even though it was under appeal. Read with doubts about an underlying private dispute and the political context, it tipped the balance to deletion.
Decides that the data challenged are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files.
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Due process · Political character · Purpose
Applying the predominance test, the Commission weighs the nature of the offence, the status of the person and the general context. Membership of an opposition party did not carry the case where the acts were committed in a corporate role and the file showed concrete personal gain.
Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the following update of the Applicant’s file: 2.
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2018 - Decision Excerpt N° 6
The Commission blocked access to the data provisionally under Article 37 of its Statute while it reviewed the case, but held that it is not the forum to order immediate measures in national extradition proceedings — least of all against a country that is not the source of the data.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the following update of the Applicant’s file: - the extradi
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Access to files · Asylum-Refugee · Political character
A journalist was detained abroad on the notice, yet the requesting authorities never lodged an extradition request or explained the omission, and press-freedom bodies and UN reporting had criticised the prosecution. Maintaining the data risked INTERPOL being perceived as facilitating politically motivated activity.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Article 2-Torture and mistreatments · Political character
Statements obtained through torture may not be invoked as evidence in criminal proceedings, and the Commission will review whether a case rests on such material even though it does not assess evidence as a trial court would. With strong political elements alongside, retention would have compromised the Organization's neutrality.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Family matter
INTERPOL is not the forum for competing custody disputes: where courts in two countries had granted custody to different parents, the Commission could not find retention of the data compliant and left custody and extradition to the national authorities.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant and the Child are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from IN
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Misuse of INTERPOL channels · Political character · Status of the person
Even a Blue Notice, which seeks information rather than arrest, requires concrete elements showing the person's own participation. The file did not explain how the applicant had bribed anyone or benefited, and his post had been a political appointment.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings · Misuse of INTERPOL channels · Status of the person
A Blue Notice keeps a valid purpose where the bureau is seeking the location of suspects in an ongoing investigation: the applicants did not establish that their whereabouts were already known, and they had left the country shortly before the court order was issued.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data
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Access to files · Political character
A bureau that withholds the material behind a notice must justify the restriction as relevant and proportionate and accept counter-balancing measures such as a redacted summary. Unexplained secrecy that leaves the applicant unable to answer the case breaches his fundamental rights.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files if the NCB of
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Accuracy-Quality · Due process · Political character
Under the predominance test the person's own status is only one factor. An applicant who was never a politician still succeeded, because the criminal nature of the offence was doubtful and the general context of the case was political.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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2018 - Decision Excerpt N°14
Publication of a Red Notice, and any processing of the data with a view to extradition, breached Article 2 where surrender would violate the customary principle of non-refoulement because the applicant faced torture and serious violations of fundamental rights; the political context of the case aggravated that risk.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Article 2-Torture and mistreatments · Lack of action for extradition
The findings of another state's judicial body on the risks of extradition, together with a long detention that never led to extradition because the requesting authorities missed the deadline for the documents, formed a body of corroborating evidence making retention incompatible with the spirit of the Universal Declaration.
2) Decides, upon revision, that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files.
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Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings · Purpose
A country's refusal to transfer criminal proceedings to another state is not in itself contrary to INTERPOL's rules or to international standards — the two are separate sovereign states, and the refusal alone does not make the data non-compliant.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Access to files · Article 2-Right to life
The same corroboration approach: an independent judicial body's assessment of the risks on extradition, combined with earlier interim findings on the political character of the case, made the data non-compliant with Articles 2 and 3 of INTERPOL's Constitution.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Access to files · Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings · Private matter
A claim of unfair trial resting mainly on alleged political motivation, without precise elements about flaws in the investigation or in the procedure to be followed after extradition, does not demonstrate a flagrant denial of fair-trial rights.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Unfunded cheques
Issuing an unfunded cheque, where the outstanding sum was smaller than the amount originally loaned and nothing showed malicious or fraudulent intent, does not meet the criterion of interest for international police cooperation.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Article 2-Right to security in sickness · Lack of action for extradition
Health and age may bar an extradition, but that assessment belongs to national authorities: absent elements certifying that the right to health was threatened or that the needed treatment was unavailable — and where the applicant said he trusted the care he was receiving — the Commission could not find the data non-compliant.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the following update of the Applicant’s file: the informati
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Lack of action for extradition · Private matter
A refusal of extradition on a ground specific to one country is not a determination on the merits and does not by itself affect compliance; a refusal concerning an alleged accomplice does not prevent the notice from still serving its purpose.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the following update of the Applicant’s file: any referen
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Purpose
Where the bureau did not produce, despite repeated requests, the decision revoking the applicant's passport or the arrest warrant behind the entry, that absence of appropriate answers prevented the Commission from concluding that the data met INTERPOL's criteria, and it disposed of the matter in the applicant's favour.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant ’s passport […], issued by […] authorities, are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that
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Article 2-Right to security in sickness
Where medical professionals warned of potentially life-threatening, irreparable harm from the extradition journey itself and no response explained palliative measures or alternatives, the Commission held that the data could no longer maintain a valid purpose within the spirit of the Universal Declaration.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Article 2-Right to life · Ne bis in idem
Multiple national decisions declining to cooperate on the case raised serious concerns about the coherence of the charges and the applicant's effective personal participation, which together with earlier Article 2 doubts made the data non-compliant.
Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files .
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Accuracy-Quality · International interest-Seriousness
Red Notices are reserved for serious ordinary-law crime: the theft and resale of a mobile phone by a young adult, with no serious concrete damage to any public or private interest shown, was a petty crime that failed the requirements of Articles 35 and 83 of the RPD.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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International interest-Seriousness · Lack of action for extradition
A favourable civil ruling or settlement does not by itself quash criminal proceedings, particularly where it says nothing about the underlying facts and was entered in a different jurisdiction from the country that supplied the data.
Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data ---------------- Vitalie Pîrlog Chairman of the Commission Secretariat to the Commission for the Control
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Accuracy-Quality · Political character · Private matter
Minor discrepancies in the summary of facts or in identity particulars do not breach the data-quality requirement in Article 12 of the Rules on the Processing of Data, where they neither prevent identification nor undermine the coherence of what is necessarily an abridged statement.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Article 2-Right to movement within a state · Trial in absentia
Article 13 of the Universal Declaration is not infringed by the mere issuance of a valid diffusion: freedom of movement is subject to lawful, necessary and proportionate limitations under Article 29, and the notice rests on an order of a competent authority.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Description of criminal activities · Extradition
The description supplied by the bureau must be concrete and specific: it has to identify the person's role, the specific criminal actions, the time and the means, and where relevant a personal gain or the intention to commit the offence. General assertions that evidence exists do not satisfy Articles 12, 35 and 99(2) of the RPD.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not c ompliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s file
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Description of criminal activities · Extradition · Ne bis in idem
Where the bureau had actually asked the countries in which the applicant was located to extradite or surrender him, it met its obligations under Articles 84(2) and 87(b) of the RPD, and the applicant's arguments did not suffice to show the data had lost their purpose.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the following update of the Applicant’s file: - the extradi
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Description of criminal activities · Transfer of proceedings
The bureau described a co-accused's acts precisely but not the applicant's, made general statements about the existence of evidence and did not address his submissions; on that record the Commission found the data non-compliant.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Description of criminal activities · Political character · Purpose
Protective status granted abroad does not by itself trigger INTERPOL's refugee policy. Generalised claims about a country's judicial system or about tensions between states do not show the flagrant human-rights violation Article 2 requires; those arguments belong before the extradition judge.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Description of criminal activities · Due process · Extradition · Refugee Policy
A national court's finding that extradition would expose the person to conditions violating fundamental rights reinforces a claim under Article 2 of INTERPOL's Constitution; refugee status and the absence of any manifest participation in the offence were treated as aggravating factors, and the bureau's material did not remove the doubt.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Purpose of a Green Notice
The diffusion was deleted by the General Secretariat at the requesting bureau's own request once its national authorities confirmed that the charges had lapsed under the statute of limitations; the applicant's remaining complaints about the Green Notice did not succeed.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings · Retroactive application of criminal law · continuous offence
The Commission's mandate is limited to the compliance of data held in INTERPOL's files: it has no competence to review the accuracy or the lawfulness of extradition documents exchanged bilaterally between judicial authorities outside INTERPOL's channels, and those complaints were dismissed.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the following update of the Applicant’s file: the extradi
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Validity of an SMV registration
Where the requesting bureau confirmed that a vehicle is still recorded as stolen and a recovery procedure is pending, the data kept its interest for international police cooperation under Article 35 of the RPD — even though nothing in the file suggested wrongdoing by the applicant himself.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of data.
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Application for revision · Ne bis in idem
A requesting bureau must take appropriate steps towards arrest and extradition or explain why it has not: here a valid arrest warrant, an earlier extradition request and a competing request granted to another state showed the necessary willingness, and the data were maintained.
Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Ne bis in idem · Transfer of proceedings
Parallel proceedings in a second country over the same facts breached neither ne bis in idem nor the requirement of interest for police cooperation: the Commission ordered that information about those proceedings be added to the file and left the conflict of jurisdiction to the states concerned.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to the following updates of the Applicant’s file: - the follow
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Cooperation of NCBs · Lawfulness-Validity of proceedings
Where the bureau did not answer the Commission's queries about the applicant's acquittal, even after being warned that the data would be blocked or deleted, that lack of cooperation prevented the Commission from verifying compliance with Article 83(2)(b)(v) of the RPD and it resolved the case in the applicant's favour.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
Download decision (PDF) Source: INTERPOL, Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files
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Due process · Family matter · International interest-Seriousness · Purpose
Where the data aim at locating rather than arresting the person, and may reasonably be understood to serve notification and to secure her presence before the court that may later hear the case, the standard relied on under the ICCPR was met.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Article 3 · Description of criminal activities · Due process · Human rights
The description of criminal activities must identify the person's specific role, acts, timing, means and any benefit. When the requesting bureau left the Commission's questions on those points unanswered despite extended deadlines, Article 83 of the Rules on the Processing of Data was not satisfied.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Article 3 · Misuse of Interpol_s channels
An allegation that INTERPOL's channels are being misused politically must rest on case-specific evidence. General reports about a country's use of the stolen documents database did not displace the bureau's showing that the passport had been cancelled by court order under national law.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Accuracy-Quality · Purpose
Where the bureau confirms that a vehicle is still recorded as stolen, the data remain accurate, relevant and of interest for police cooperation under Article 35 of the RPD — even though the applicant's own wrongdoing was not shown and the vehicle had entered the second country before it was reported stolen.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
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Accuracy-Quality · Article 2 · Family matter · Seriousness
The bureau's silence on whether the applicant would retain any right to a retrial or an appeal after surrender — his earlier requests having been rejected in his absence — combined with doubts about the seriousness of the offence, raised cumulative concern under Article 2.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Family matter · International interest-Seriousness · Ne bis in idem · Purpose
Yellow Notices lost their purpose under Article 90 of the RPD once the other country had confirmed the children's location and their status under their custodian's guardianship, and the requesting bureau gave no concrete answer on any continued purpose.
[xxx] Decides that the data concerning the Applicant s are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files .
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Description of criminal activities · Due process · Lawfulness or Validity of the proceedings
Assertions that the applicant personally profited, unsupported by any material and without addressing his evidence that he was not the company's director, did not demonstrate involvement, criminal intent or personal benefit, and the data were held non-compliant.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data concerning the Applicant are not compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, and that they shall be deleted from INTERPOL’s files
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Accuracy-Quality · Purpose
The Green Notice had a purpose and was proportionate under Articles 89, 10(1) and 12 of the RPD, but because the bureau never explicitly confirmed that retention of the data is authorised by its own national law as Article 11 requires, the Commission required that confirmation.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the challenged data are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data, subject to: a) the confirmation from the NCB of [Country 1] that the r
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Accuracy-Quality · Article 2
General reports and outside criticism of a country's legal system that do not address the applicant's own prosecution cannot establish a violation of Article 2: the Commission works from information specific to the person concerned.
FOR THESE REASONS, THE COMMISSION Decides that the data challenged are compliant with INTERPOL’s rules applicable to the processing of personal data.
Download decision (PDF) Source: INTERPOL, Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files
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Limits of this database
Three limits are worth stating plainly. First, coverage: the Commission has published excerpts for 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023 onward, but none for 2020, 2021 or 2022, so those years are simply absent. Second, selection: what gets published is chosen by the Commission for its instructional value, so unusual reasoning is over-represented and routine outcomes are under-represented. Third, anonymisation: because states and dates are redacted, no entry can tell you how a particular country’s notices tend to fare.
The published excerpts are available from INTERPOL’s own CCF sessions and decisions page. This index adds classification, structured grounds, outcome coding and a machine-readable export; the documents themselves are INTERPOL’s.
Using the case law in a real application
Reading the decisions is not the same as running an application. The Commission answers the file in front of it, and the arguments that succeed are the ones supported by documents it can verify. If you are preparing a request, our CCF application work covers the procedure itself, and the team behind these Red Notice cases can assess which of the grounds above your file actually supports.
Using This Catalogue on a Real File
The decisions here are the record, not the remedy. Reading them tells you which argument the Commission has accepted before; what happens next depends on where your case stands. If nothing has been confirmed yet, the first step is a request for access to your data — only a portion of Red Notices is published and diffusions never appear publicly. If a notice exists, the procedure, the statutory deadlines and the documents are set out under Red Notice removal; where the Commission has already refused, see application for revision.
Two other places make the record concrete. Our anonymised case notes show the same grounds argued on live files, with the outcome in each. And because the local consequences differ sharply from one state to the next — detention practice, whether nationals are surrendered, whether an EAW is also in play — the country pages set out what changes by jurisdiction. If you would rather start from your situation than from a service name, the route map does that.
Frequently asked questions about CCF decisions
Does the CCF publish all of its decisions?
No. The Commission publishes only anonymised excerpts of decisions it considers instructive, and it does not publish the personal information of applicants. Sixty-five excerpts have been published, covering 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023 onward; no excerpts were published for 2020, 2021 or 2022.
Are CCF decisions binding precedent?
No. The Commission is not a court and does not operate a doctrine of precedent, so an earlier decision does not bind a later one. The published excerpts still matter in practice, because they show how the Commission has reasoned on recurring grounds and what kind of evidence it treated as sufficient.
What can the Commission actually order?
It can find that data held in INTERPOLu0027s files are not compliant with INTERPOLu0027s rules, in which case the data are deleted. It can also order that a file be corrected or updated while the notice itself stands, and access to data can be blocked provisionally while a case is under review.
Why do the decisions not name any country?
The Commission redacts states, dates, names and case references before publication. Every redaction in these documents is INTERPOLu0027s own; nothing has been removed by us. That is also why the database cannot be filtered by requesting country.
What is the difference between Article 2 and Article 3 grounds?
Article 3 of INTERPOLu0027s Constitution forbids the organisation from any intervention in matters of a political, military, religious or racial character, and is argued where a prosecution is said to be politically motivated. Article 2 requires INTERPOL to act in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and covers risk of torture or ill-treatment, risk to life and serious health grounds.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For advice specific to your situation, please consult a qualified lawyer.