We use cookies where necessary to allow us to understand how people interact with our website and content, so that we can continue to improve our service.
We only ever receive anonymous information, and cannot track you across other websites.
View our privacy policy
Ben Keith of 5 St Andrew’s Hill has co-authored the INTERPOL chapter of The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations, Eleventh Edition, published by Global Investigations Review (GIR) on 30 October 2026. Written with Amy Woolfson and Georgia Beatty, also of 5 St Andrew’s Hill, the chapter explains how INTERPOL Red Notices and Diffusions work, what they do to the people named in them, and how they can be challenged. It updates the chapter Ben co-authored for the tenth edition.
A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action. It is not an international arrest warrant, although many of INTERPOL’s 196 member states treat it as grounds for arrest. In the UK, the Extradition (Provisional Arrest) Act 2020 allows arrest without a domestic warrant on a Red Notice or Diffusion from a designated “trusted” country.
The chapter takes practitioners through INTERPOL’s structure, Articles 2 and 3 of its Constitution, the minimum standards in Article 83 of the Rules on the Processing of Data, and the newer tools in the system, including the Silver Notice pilot for tracing criminal assets. It also sets out the human cost. Arrest is only one risk. A notice can block travel, close bank accounts and follow a person’s reputation for years.
The chapter draws on INTERPOL’s published data. The Notices and Diffusions Task Force refused or cancelled 2,550 Red Notices in 2025, but found only 558 of them incompatible with Articles 2 or 3. The Commission for the Control of Files (CCF) closed a record 2,717 requests in its latest reported year. Of the 539 deletion requests it decided, it found the data compliant in only 217 (40%).
Put the other way, six in ten deletion requests decided on the merits succeeded. That says less about the CCF’s rigour than about how much non-compliant data gets into INTERPOL’s systems before anyone checks it.
There are two routes. The first is an application to the CCF. Since 26 March 2026 all requests go through the CCF’s online portal, and the substantive submission is capped at 10 pages. Applications are decided on the papers and typically take around 12 months. There is no appeal, only an application for revision within six months of new information arising. Requesting states can also ask for information to be restricted, so that the CCF sees it and the applicant does not.
The second is a collateral challenge in domestic or regional courts. This will not delete a notice, but it can limit its effect. The chapter covers data protection challenges against the National Crime Agency under the Data Protection Act 2018, and the CJEU’s decision in WS v Bundesrepublik Deutschland (C-505/19), which held that a Red Notice cannot be used to restrict free movement within the Schengen area where ne bis in idem applies.
The chapter does not spare INTERPOL itself. It records the torture allegations made against Major General Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi, president from 2021 until November 2025, and the case of Vitalie Pîrlog, a former head of the CCF accused of helping erase Red Notices for at least 26 criminals in Moldova. It also notes the corrective measures applied to Russia in 2019, and that INTERPOL still does not publish which states are serial abusers of its systems.
We act for individuals and companies who are the subject of, or at risk of, a Red Notice or Diffusion. Our work includes pre-emptive submissions to INTERPOL, deletion requests to the CCF, revision applications and related extradition and international law proceedings. Where a notice has already caused damage, we advise on collateral challenges, including data protection claims and sanctions consequences.
This article was first published on GIR on 30 October 2026; for further in-depth analysis, please visit the GIR – The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations; Edition 11.
If you or a client are affected by an INTERPOL Red Notice, contact us in confidence.
If you would like to speak with us about our areas of practice or anything else please contact us via the form linked below.
Contact Us
Ben Keith Cited in the House of Lords on Russia’s Abuse of INTERPOL Red Notices
Ben Keith on INTERPOL Red Notices, Extradition and Ukraine: Seminar Q&A