The short answer. At its 93rd session in Marrakech the General Assembly amended six articles of the Commission's Statute — 3, 19, 23, 25, 28 and 33 — from 27 November 2025. Three changes matter to applicants: the General Secretariat now has 45 days to say whether INTERPOL holds data about you; the Commission cannot look into information bureaus exchange directly unless a serious violation is reported; and the Requests Chamber gained express powers to dismiss requests, report suspicions and bar representatives for conduct "abusive, improper, or in bad faith".
How the review began
The General Secretariat proposed a review in 2023, seven years into the Statute; the Commission agreed, asking that it wait for new resources. Its 2024 report records the tension: everyone accepted that changes “should not threaten the CCF’s independence”, but not everyone agreed what that meant. The Committee on the Processing of Data prepared the first amendments for the 2025 Assembly; the Commission rewrote its Operating Rules to match on 26 March 2026.
The procedural changes
Article 33(2) fixes a deadline that did not exist: once a request is admissible, the General Secretariat must say within 45 days whether data about the applicant are being processed. Late answers from the Secretariat were, by the Commission’s account, a principal cause of missed targets. Article 33(5) adds sequencing: where the Secretariat is itself reviewing the same data, the Chamber waits for that decision, and the wait can justify extending the nine-month limit. Article 23(2) confines what the Commission sends the Secretariat to authorised staff. Articles 3, 19 and 28(1) settle that the Commission does not review direct exchanges between bureaus — the messaging channel — unless aware of a potential violation, mirroring Article 22(6) of the data rules adopted a year earlier.
What “misuse” means
The Commission had reported forged documents, documents obtained by fraud and knowingly false statements — from applicants, representatives and bureaus — and, separately, threats against applicants and their families for filing. Article 28(3) answers both. The Chamber may dismiss a request, revision application or written submission for “a serious abuse of its proceedings”; report substantiated suspicions of serious abuse or misconduct to the General Secretariat, which may refer them to law enforcement; and bring reported intimidation, coercion or reprisals to the attention of INTERPOL’s bodies. Article 28(4) obliges it to notify and give reasons.
The safeguards
Rule 32 of the new Operating Rules sets the steps: assess the nature and seriousness of the conduct, consider whether a lesser measure suffices, consult where appropriate, and, before dismissing anything or barring a person from further submissions, give an opportunity to respond. The Commission said in 2024 that measures must not “discourage vigorous advocacy”; a repetitive request may still count as abusive under Rule 31(4). For an honest file nothing changes but the calendar — and the calendar matters, because when the Commission decides now turns partly on a 45-day step finally written down.
Related
- When does the CCF actually decide your case?
- What is INTERPOL’s CCF, and what can it do?
- Why are CCF requests declared inadmissible?
- Statute of the CCF, as amended by Resolution GA-2025-93-RES-08 (Articles 3, 19, 23, 25, 28 and 33) — interpol.int
- INTERPOL — About the CCF: update of the CCF Statute — interpol.int
- CCF — Operating Rules, adopted on 26 March 2026, preamble and Rules 31(4) and 32 — interpol.int
- CCF Annual Activity Report 2024, paragraphs 10, 71, 72, 84, 85 and 89 — interpol.int
- INTERPOL — Rules on the Processing of Data, Article 22(6) and the reference to Resolution GA-2025-93-RES-08 — interpol.int
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