Interpol Notice Types Explained
The Organization circulates several kinds of notice, distinguished by colour. Each has a different purpose and a different legal effect, and only one of them — the red notice — asks member countries to locate and provisionally arrest a person. The rest range from a request for information to a warning about a method of crime.
The colour is not a severity scale. A person can be the subject of more than one notice at a time, and a diffusion — which is not a notice at all — can circulate alongside them.
The notices
- Interpol Blue Notice: Purpose, Effect and DurationA request for information about a person's identity, location or activities.→
- Interpol Green Notice: Warning About a PersonA warning about a person considered likely to reoffend.→
- Interpol Black Notice: Unidentified BodiesA request for information on unidentified bodies.→
- Interpol Yellow Notice: Missing PersonsUsed to help locate missing persons, often minors.→
- Interpol Orange Notice: Imminent Threat WarningA warning about an event, person or object posing an imminent threat.→
- Interpol Purple Notice: Criminal Methods and DevicesInformation on methods, objects, devices and concealment techniques.→
How the types differ in effect
| Type | Purpose | Asks for arrest |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Locate and provisionally arrest pending extradition | Yes |
| Blue | Collect information about a person | No |
| Green | Warn about a person’s likely conduct | No |
| Yellow | Locate a missing person | No |
| Black | Identify a body | No |
| Orange | Warn of an imminent threat | No |
| Purple | Share criminal methods and devices | No |
| Silver | Trace criminal assets — introduced as a pilot in 2025 | No |
Notices and the national alerts that resemble them
Several countries run their own internal alert systems, and a domestic alert is regularly mistaken for an Interpol notice because the practical effect at a border feels the same. India’s look-out circular is the clearest example — how a look-out notice differs from a red corner notice. The distinction matters: a domestic alert is challenged before the national authority, not before the Commission.
The one that asks for arrest
The red notice is the only instrument in this list that asks for a person to be held, and it is the one most often challenged — the red notice in detail, including what it does and does not oblige a country to do.
A notice of any colour can be reviewed
Data held under any of these types is subject to the Organization’s own rules and can be challenged before the Commission. Lawyer for Interpol notice cases.
Request a free case assessmentFrequently asked
How many types of Interpol notice are there?
Seven established colour-coded types, plus a Silver Notice introduced as a pilot in 2025 for tracing criminal assets, and a special notice issued at the request of the United Nations. A diffusion is a separate mechanism and is not a notice.
Which Interpol notice is the most serious?
The red notice, because it is the only one that asks member countries to detain the person named. The others do not request arrest.
Are Interpol notices visible to the public?
Mostly not. A small subset of red and yellow notices is published; the rest circulate only between national bureaux.
Can a person have more than one Interpol notice?
Yes, and it happens. A blue notice used to establish a location is sometimes followed by a red notice on the same person.