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MALANDRO
Guide

How an Interpol Red Notice gets issued, step by step

6 steps · approx 10 min to read

A Red Notice doesn't appear from thin air. It is the end of a chain that starts with a national arrest warrant in one Interpol member country and, if nothing stops it, finishes with a circulated notice visible to police around the world. Here is the full sequence.

  1. Step 1

    A national arrest warrant is issued

    The process always begins in a national legal system. A judge or prosecutor issues a valid arrest warrant against a specific person for a specific offence, based on the domestic legal standard (probable cause, reasonable grounds, etc.).

  2. Step 2

    The requesting country asks its National Central Bureau (NCB)

    The prosecuting authority contacts its NCB — the in-country point of contact with Interpol. In the United States that is the FBI; in Spain, a unit of the Policía Nacional.

  3. Step 3

    The NCB drafts and submits the Red Notice request

    The NCB fills out the Red Notice form — biographical data, photo, offence, warrant number, sentence if convicted, and identifying details. It submits the request through Interpol's secure communication system (I-24/7) to the General Secretariat in Lyon.

  4. Step 4

    The General Secretariat conducts a legal review

    Interpol's Command and Coordination Centre checks basic completeness. Then the Notices and Diffusions Task Force (NDTF) reviews the substance for compliance with Interpol's Constitution, particularly Article 3 (no political, military, religious or racial character) and the Rules on Data Processing.

  5. Step 5

    The notice is published

    If the review passes, the Red Notice is published in Interpol's internal database, circulating to all 196 member countries' NCBs. A public extract is published on Interpol's website only when the requesting country explicitly consents.

  6. Step 6

    Member countries act at their own discretion

    Each member country decides whether to act on the notice — typically by flagging the subject in border databases and provisionally arresting them on sight, subject to that country's own laws on extradition and provisional arrest. Several countries routinely refuse notices they consider politically motivated.

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