The International Criminal Police Organisation, or INTERPOL, issues eight types of colour-coded Notices and corresponding diffusions to facilitate international police cooperation. Each Notice (and diffusion) serves a distinct purpose - either as an alert or a request for information relating to individuals, crimes, or threats. INTERPOL also issues Special Notices in collaboration with the United Nations.
INTERPOL Member States can request a Notice by submitting a request to INTERPOL’s General Secretariat through their National Central Bureau (NCB). A Notice will only be published if the request satisfies the conditions set out in INTERPOL’s Rules on the Processing of Data (RPD) and INTERPOL’s Constitution (Constitution). The latter sets out the organisation’s governing rules and principles.
While Notices are issued and circulated by INTERPOL at the request of a Member State, diffusions are circulated directly by a Member State’s NCB to all or some other Member States through the use of INTERPOL’s system. The diffusion mechanism is therefore potentially subject to less scrutiny than INTERPOL’s Notice system. In this article, we explain the different types of INTERPOL Notices and the reasons they may be issued.
1. Red Notice
A Red Notice requests law enforcement agencies of Member States to locate and provisionally arrest a wanted person, pending extradition or similar legal action.
Under Article 83 of the RPD, a Red Notice can only be issued for an individual who is sought:
- for the prosecution of serious criminal offences that would carry a penalty of at least two years’ imprisonment, or
- to serve a sentence, where at least six months remain to be served of their sentence.
Serious criminal offences include crimes such as murder, terrorism, financial fraud, and drug trafficking.
To publish a Red Notice under Article 83, the requesting country must submit a valid domestic arrest warrant or court order, and certify that the case is not politically, militarily, religiously, or racially motivated. The request must be accompanied by a relevant judicial decision.
2. Blue Notice
A Blue Notice is used to obtain information about a person’s identity, location, or activities in connection with a crime. It does not request an arrest but facilitates international intelligence gathering.
Under Article 88 of the RPD, a Blue Notice may only be issued if the person concerned has been convicted, charged, is a suspect, a witness, or a victim. The request must include sufficient information about the person's potential criminal history, location, or identity relevant to the investigation.
3. Green Notice
A Green Notice is used to provide warnings and intelligence about individuals who pose a potential threat to public safety.
Under Article 89 of the RPD, a Green Notice may be published if the person is considered a possible threat to public safety, based on evidence of prior offending and a risk of reoffending. The request must specify the nature of the threat and the likely areas of activity.
4. Yellow Notice
A Yellow Notice is used to help locate missing persons (such as minors), or to identify persons who are unable to identify themselves.
Under Article 90 of the RPD, a Yellow Notice may only be issued if the person’s disappearance or discovery has been reported to the police, and sufficient data is included in the request. In the case of adults, applicable national privacy laws must not prevent the request from being submitted.
5. Black Notice
A Black Notice is used to seek information about unidentified dead bodies.
Under Article 91 of the RPD, a Black Notice may only be issued if the discovery of the deceased has been recorded by the police and the body remains unidentified. The request must include sufficient forensic data to allow for identification.
6. Purple Notice
A Purple Notice is used to:
- Warn Member States about criminal methodologies (e.g. hidden weapons, trafficking routes, or cybercrime techniques), or
- Request information relating to such offences to aid investigation or resolution.
Under Article 92 of the RPD, the conditions differ depending on the request type:
- Warning notices must aim to prevent repeat offences and include detailed information on the criminal methodology, object, or device used. This must be complex or unique in comparison to similar crimes.
- Information requests must relate to serious offences and draw attention to specific criminal techniques or items.
7. Orange Notice
An Orange Notice is used to warn about events, objects, persons, or processes posing a serious risk to public safety. It may address new criminal techniques, dangerous individuals, or hazardous substances.
Under Article 93 of the RPD, the threat must be urgent and of significant international concern. The request must be supported by reliable evidence indicating the risk to public or national security.
8. Silver Notice
The latest addition to INTERPOL’s tools, a Silver Notice assists in locating, identifying, or recovering criminal assets.
The request must demonstrate that the asset is linked to criminal activity and that there is a clear international recovery effort.
INTERPOL-United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Special Notice
This Notice is issued for individuals or entities subject to United Nations sanctions. It supports enforcement of travel bans, asset freezes, and arms embargoes mandated by the UN.
Under Article 95 of the RPD, the UN Sanctions Committee provides the identifying data in accordance with Security Council resolutions.
Challenging INTERPOL Notices
Individuals[SB1] and entities can request that an INTERPOL notice be deleted or corrected by submitting a request to the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF). Grounds for challenge include non-compliance with either the RPD or its Constitution.
For example, a Red Notice may be found non-compliant:
- If it is politically motivated, as Article 3 of INTERPOL’s Constitution prohibits INTERPOL from undertaking any “activities of a political, military, religious or racial character”; or
- If it fails to meet the specific conditions for the publication of a Red Notice under Article 83 of the RPD, as it does not relate to a serious criminal offence, or is not in the interest of international police cooperation.
Further, Articles 11 and 34 of the RPD require the processing/recording of an individual’s data in INTERPOL’s database to be compliant with Article 2 of its Constitution. Article 2 sets out INTERPOL’s aims, which are:
- To ensure and promote the widest possible mutual assistance between all criminal police authorities within the limits of the laws existing in the different countries and in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR);
- To establish and develop all institutions likely to contribute effectively to the prevention and suppression of ordinary law crimes.
Consequently, an INTERPOL Notice may be found non-compliant with its Constitution if processing of the data by INTERPOL would be inconsistent with the spirit of the UDHR. For example, the data contained in the INTERPOL Notice may be inconsistent with the person’s right to a fair trial (UDHR, Article 10).
BCL’s team has extensive experience advising individuals challenging INTERPOL Notices and diffusions, including politically motivated or arbitrary Red Notices and diffusions, and proceedings which are characterised by violations of a person’s human rights. BCL also assists individuals who may be the subject of a future INTERPOL Notice by pre-emptively requesting INTERPOL to reject such requests.
