Can a national court order INTERPOL to delete a Red Notice?

Why INTERPOL cannot be sued

Article 5 of the Headquarters Agreement grants “immunity from legal process”, with exceptions only for contracts, road accidents and counterclaims; Article 7 makes the archives inviolable wherever they are. Private disputes go to arbitration under Article 24, but paragraph 3 excludes those arising from the Constitution “or its appendices” — and the Commission’s Statute is, by its Article 47, such an appendix. In 2016 France and INTERPOL confirmed by exchange of letters that arbitration does not cover disputes about notices, diffusions or messages. Others recognise the immunity by statute: in May 2022 the US Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of El Omari v. INTERPOL, holding the Organization immune under the International Organizations Immunities Act, with no waiver.

Why the courts accept it

Immunity is tolerated because there is somewhere else to go. The European Court of Human Rights held in Waite and Kennedy v. Germany (1999) that immunity is compatible with the right of access to a court where a reasonable alternative remedy exists. The Commission’s 2024 report says national courts in various countries have found it “to constitute an effective remedy”, which “has allowed INTERPOL to maintain its immunity”. August Reinisch, writing in January 2026, agrees: binding decisions from an independent body mean the Commission would likely survive such a challenge. Statute Article 5 asks member states to ensure no national authority interferes with the Commission’s work.

What a court can do

Everything upstream and downstream. A court in the requesting country can quash the warrant: a Red Notice must rest on “a valid arrest warrant or judicial decision having the same effect” (Article 83(2)(b) of the data rules), and a bureau whose request no longer meets the conditions must withdraw (Article 81). A court where you live can refuse extradition with reasons, which the Commission treats as evidence because INTERPOL will not weigh evidence itself. It can order its own police to correct the national copy, since recipients are responsible for data “at the national level” (Article 5(7)). And Statute Article 28(2) preserves your right to ask the source country’s authorities to act on their data.

The division of labour

The Commission alone decides whether INTERPOL may hold the data (Statute Article 3(2)(c): “exclusive power”, decisions “final and binding”); courts decide what the data rest on. A strong request is often built from a judgment: the court’s decision is the exhibit, the Commission the forum.

Related

• What is INTERPOL’s CCF, and what can it do?
• Does a refused extradition end a Red Notice?
• Is a Red Notice an international arrest warrant?