Why a public search is insufficient
Only selected Red Notice extracts are published on INTERPOL’s public website. Most Red Notices are restricted to law-enforcement use, and diffusions are not presented as a complete public register. No result in an online search does not prove that INTERPOL processes no data about the person.
Information may also exist in a notice of another colour, a diffusion or another part of the INTERPOL Information System. The question should therefore be framed as an access request concerning personal data, rather than as a search for one public page.
What an access request does
Any person may ask the CCF for access to personal data about them held in INTERPOL’s files. The Commission asks the General Secretariat to check whether relevant data are being processed and then applies the disclosure rules in the CCF Statute.
An access request is different from a correction or deletion request. Access asks what data exist and what may be disclosed. Correction targets inaccurate or incomplete data. Deletion challenges data whose processing does not comply with INTERPOL’s rules.
Disclosure has legal limits
The CCF consults the source of the data before disclosing information connected with a request. The resulting decision may confirm, disclose or restrict information in accordance with the applicable rules. An applicant should not assume that every field, document or communication will be provided.
The CCF states that its own files are confidential and that submitting a request is not recorded as a new police-cooperation request. However, it may indicate in existing INTERPOL data that a CCF request is under examination.
Preparing an admissible request
The application should identify the applicant precisely and include the required identity document. A representative must provide valid authority to act. Names, transliterations, former names, dates of birth and nationalities should be checked carefully, because cross-border records often contain variants.
Where the known circumstances already support a challenge, access may be requested together with correction or deletion. The supporting record should explain the criminal, commercial or family proceedings and identify the remedy sought.
Submission and timing
Since 26 March 2026, applications must generally be submitted through the CCF’s secure online portal. The portal is used for the request, communications, supporting documents and decisions.
The CCF states that it generally decides an access request within four months after the request has been declared admissible. Time spent completing an inadmissible or incomplete application is not the same as the decision period.
Official reference: How to submit a CCF request ↗
What happens after the response?
If no data are disclosed, the wording and its legal limits should be read carefully. If data are confirmed, the next question is whether they are accurate, current, proportionate and compliant with INTERPOL’s Constitution and Rules on the Processing of Data.
A correction or deletion request should not merely repeat the defence case. It should explain why the processing of the specific international data fails the applicable rules, supported by the strongest domestic documents.
Related guidance: how long a CCF request takes, CCF deletion requests and Red Notices and diffusions.
Applications to the CCF are free of charge. Legal fees may apply where a lawyer is instructed. Disclosure, timing and outcome cannot be guaranteed.