The short answer. A decision of the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files is "final and binding on the Organization and the applicant". The one way back is a revision application, which "may only be made by the applicant when it is based on the discovery of a fact which would probably have led to a different conclusion if that fact had been known" — filed "within six months after the discovery of the fact", through the portal, with a summary of arguments of ten pages at most.
There is no appeal from the CCF. There is a narrow door marked “new fact”.
What the rules allow
Article 38 of the Statute makes decisions final. Article 42 opens the door: a revision is possible on “the discovery of a fact which would probably have led to a different conclusion,” and must be made “within six months after the discovery of the fact.” The Commission’s 2024 report puts it plainly — “new facts that could have led the CCF to a different conclusion” — and notes that a National Central Bureau, not only the applicant, may invoke it. The clock runs from discovery, not from the decision; and the fact must be new, not newly argued.
What counts as a new fact
The question is whether the fact existed and was unknown — not whether you have found a better lawyer. A judgment handed down after the decision; a prosecutor’s discontinuance; a refugee determination; a document from the requesting country’s file that was withheld; proof that the warrant behind the notice had lapsed. What does not count: a new legal theory on the same facts, a longer version of the first submission, or disagreement with the Commission’s reasoning.
A revision is not a second chance to argue. It is a first chance to show something the Commission never saw.
How it is filed
Since 26 March 2026 everything goes through the portal. The applicant guide’s section on revision asks for “a summary of arguments, not exceeding 10 pages in length, in accordance with Rule 30(8)” — the same limit as a deletion request, explained in What is the CCF’s ten-page rule? — and the new fact “within six months of its discovery”. The sensible structure has two parts: the fact, dated and proven, with evidence of when you discovered it; then why it would probably have changed the outcome, mapped to the rule it engages.
How often it happens
Revision is a significant part of the Commission’s work: 18% of the 2,586 admissible requests it received in 2024 were applications for revision, and it closed 62 of them that year. The report gives no success rate; the Statute’s wording explains why the bar is high. The lesson for a first request is to leave nothing for later: obtain the access reply, gather every document, make the ten pages complete — because the next ten, if there are any, must carry something genuinely new.
Related
- What is the CCF’s ten-page rule?
- How long does Red Notice deletion take?
- What is INTERPOL’s CCF, and what can it do?
- Statute of the CCF, Articles 38 and 42 — interpol.int
- CCF — Frequently Asked Questions — interpol.int
- CCF Portal User Guide for Applicants, section 10.3 — interpol.int
- Operating Rules of the CCF, Rule 30(8) — interpol.int
- CCF Annual Activity Report 2024, pages 9, 12 and 14 — interpol.int
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