What is an INTERPOL diffusion?

If the Red Notice is the system’s public face, the diffusion is its whisper network — and for the person named, the whisper is often louder.

How a diffusion differs from a Red Notice

A Red Notice is requested by a country but issued by INTERPOL’s General Secretariat after a compliance review. A diffusion skips the front desk. In INTERPOL’s words, “Diffusions are circulated directly by a member country’s National Central Bureau to all or some other member countries.” Its data rules add that a diffusion is “simultaneously recorded” in INTERPOL’s police databases — so the alert lives in the inboxes of the countries chosen and in the files every member country can query.

Diffusions must still comply with INTERPOL’s Constitution and rules, and since 2018 INTERPOL’s task force reviews existing “Wanted Persons Diffusions” alongside Red Notices. The difference is timing: a Red Notice is checked before it exists; a diffusion is already circulating.

A diffusion has the reach of a Red Notice with none of its visibility. Absence from INTERPOL's public website proves nothing about a diffusion, because none is ever there.

Why people discover a diffusion at a border

There is no page to search. Most people learn one exists the hard way: a secondary inspection, a refused visa, a bank’s sudden questions. INTERPOL’s own description of notices explains why — most are “for police use only and are not available to the public,” and an extract of a Red Notice appears online only when the requesting country asks. For diffusions there is not even an extract.

The reliable way to know is the same as for notices: an access request to the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files, which any person has the right to make directly under Article 29 of the Commission’s Statute. How do I find out if I have a Red Notice? walks through it.

Can a diffusion be challenged?

Yes — on exactly the same footing as a Red Notice. A diffusion is data in INTERPOL’s information system, and the Commission’s power covers “access to, or correction and/or deletion of, data processed in the INTERPOL Information System,” whatever label the data carries. It is tested against the same rules as a Red Notice: the ban on political, military, religious and racial matters, the exclusion of private disputes, and the requirement that data be accurate, relevant and up to date. INTERPOL’s own figures show the system polices both forms together: 2,550 Red Notices and diffusions were refused or cancelled in 2025, a record.

Invisible does not mean untouchable. It means finding out matters more.

Related

• How do I find out if I have a Red Notice?
• Which INTERPOL rules get a Red Notice deleted?
• What is an INTERPOL Red Notice?