How the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files Works
The Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files is an independent body that decides whether data held by the Organization complies with its own rules. It handles requests for access to your data and requests for its deletion. It is not a court: it does not rule on guilt, it does not hear witnesses, and it decides on a written file.
What it can and cannot do
- Can
- Order deletion or correction of data that breaches the Organization’s rules.
- Can
- Tell you whether data concerning you is held, once identity is established.
- Cannot
- Decide whether the underlying allegation is true.
- Cannot
- Cancel a national arrest warrant or stop proceedings in the requesting country.
- Procedure
- Written. There are no hearings in the ordinary sense.
Requesting your file
The first application is almost always for access rather than deletion: nothing sensible can be argued before the record is known — how a request for access works.
How much the Commission handles
At its first session in 1986 the Commission received five requests. In 2024 it received 2,586 admissible requests — the highest number it has recorded — and closed 2,717, a 21 per cent increase on 2023. Of the new admissible requests, approximately 37 per cent were requests for access, 45 per cent requests for deletion and 18 per cent applications for revision.
Its Statute requires at least three sessions a year; in 2024 it held four. Straightforward files may be decided between sessions by the Rapporteur, which accounted for 225 decisions that year.
The Commission itself is seven members sitting in two chambers, elected by the General Assembly for five-year terms renewable once. It is supported by the Secretary of the Commission and eighteen other staff, based in Lyon and drawn from nine nationalities.
Source: Annual Activity Report of the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files for 2024 (GA-2025-93-REP-09).
The grounds it applies
Deletion is decided against the Organization’s own instruments, principally its rules on data processing and Article 3 of its Constitution — grounds the CCF accepts.
What its decisions show
A selection is published in redacted form and is the only public record of how the Commission reads its rules — published CCF decisions.
If it refuses
A refusal stands on the material before it. A further application is possible where new facts have since emerged — application for revision.
Who may file, what has to accompany the request and how long the Commission takes are set out in how to file a request with the CCF.
An application is only as good as the file behind it
Work with a red notice defence lawyer who has read the record first.
Request a free case assessmentFrequently asked
How long does the CCF take to decide?
Months rather than weeks. The Commission does not commit to a date, and anyone promising one is guessing.
Is a CCF decision binding?
On the Organization, yes: data ordered deleted is removed. It does not bind the requesting country’s own proceedings.
Can I apply to the CCF myself?
Yes. The difficulty is evidential rather than procedural.
What documents does the CCF require?
Proof of identity, and whatever material supports the ground argued. The second part is where applications succeed or fail.
Can a CCF decision be appealed?
Not as an appeal. A further application is possible only on new facts.