Red Notice (Interpol)
A Red Notice is a request published by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) asking law-enforcement agencies worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action. It is the most widely known of Interpol's notices, but it is frequently misunderstood: a Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant, and Interpol itself has no power to compel any country to make an arrest.
What a Red Notice is — and is not
A Red Notice communicates that a member country's authorities are seeking a particular person and would like them detained with a view to extradition. It does not establish guilt: the subject retains the presumption of innocence. Because Interpol is a channel for police cooperation rather than a supranational police force, the notice has no automatic legal force. Each country decides, under its own law, whether and how to act on it — some treat it as a basis for provisional arrest, others regard it only as information requiring an independent domestic decision.
How a Red Notice is issued
Requests reach Interpol through a National Central Bureau (NCB), the office in each member country that links national police to the Interpol network. The NCB asks the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France, to publish the notice. Before publication, the request is reviewed for compliance with Interpol's rules — in particular Article 3 of its Constitution, which prohibits any activity of a political, military, religious, or racial character, and the requirement that the request rest on a valid judicial decision or arrest warrant for a serious ordinary-law offence.
Practical consequences
Although not a conviction, a Red Notice can have serious effects. A person may be detained at a border, refused or stripped of a visa, encounter closed bank accounts during compliance screening, or suffer reputational and professional harm once the alert becomes known. Because the notice circulates across many jurisdictions, its impact is not confined to the country that requested it, and it can persist until it is formally addressed.
Challenging a Red Notice
Interpol maintains an independent body, the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files (CCF), through which any individual may request access to, correction of, or deletion of data held about them. Applications commonly argue that a notice breaches Interpol's rules — for example that it is politically motivated, lacks a proper judicial basis, exposes the person to an unfair trial, or relies on inaccurate data. The CCF has been the subject of reforms aimed at improving its independence and transparency.
Related concepts
A Red Notice is distinct from a diffusion, which is an alert sent directly between bureaus with lighter prior review. It is also distinct from extradition itself, which is the formal legal process a country follows to surrender a person once located. Understanding these distinctions helps explain why a notice may lead to very different outcomes in different countries.
History and governance of Interpol
Interpol traces its modern origins to 1923 and is headquartered in Lyon, France. It is among the largest international organisations, linking the police services of the great majority of the world's countries. Its principal bodies are the General Assembly, in which all member countries are represented and which sets policy; an Executive Committee, which supervises the implementation of decisions; and the General Secretariat, the permanent administration led by a Secretary General. Member countries cooperate through a secure global communications network, sometimes referred to as I-24/7, which allows police forces to share and consult data, including notices, in close to real time.
The role of the National Central Bureau
Every member country designates a National Central Bureau (NCB) staffed by its own officials. The NCB is the single point of contact between the national police and both the General Secretariat and the bureaus of other countries. When a country wishes to seek a person abroad, it is the NCB that transmits the request; when an alert is received, it is the NCB that channels it to the relevant domestic authorities. This structure means that Interpol never deals with individuals directly and never carries out arrests itself.
Reform and criticism
Human-rights organisations and parliamentary bodies, including the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, have documented instances in which Red Notices and diffusions were used against political opponents, journalists, and refugees. In response, Interpol has strengthened the review of requests before publication, reinforced the independence of the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files, and adopted a policy discouraging notices against individuals recognised as refugees from the country that seeks them. Observers note that the practical value of these safeguards depends on the quality of the initial review and on member countries respecting deletions once they are ordered.
Practical steps for an affected person
A person who suspects that an alert exists in their name may seek to confirm its status, obtain the underlying case documents, and prepare a reasoned request to the Commission for the Control of Interpol's Files. Because the consequences of a notice can arise at any border, and because the procedure is written and evidence-based, acting promptly and with full documentation is generally important.
See also
References and external links
- whatisrednotice.com — reference information on Interpol Red Notices.
- What a Red Notice means — plain-language explanation of the term.