By Dr. Julius Hagen, Attorney at Law
INTERPOL’s Colour-Coded Notice System
INTERPOL Notices are international requests for police cooperation or alerts. They are generally issued by the General Secretariat at the request of a member country’s National Central Bureau. Notices may also be issued at the request of international criminal tribunals, the International Criminal Court or the United Nations.
The colour identifies the purpose of the communication. It does not, by itself, establish that the underlying information is accurate or that the Notice has the same consequence in every member country.
A Notice is not a warrant in its own right and does not replace a national legal basis. This distinction is particularly important for Red Notices: a Red Notice is a request to locate and provisionally arrest a person, not a globally enforceable international arrest warrant. Any arrest or other measure depends on the law of the country concerned.
Most Notices are visible only to law-enforcement authorities. An extract is published only in certain cases. An unsuccessful search of INTERPOL’s public website therefore does not exclude the existence of data in INTERPOL’s systems or a Diffusion.
Red Notice: Location and Provisional Arrest
A Red Notice seeks the location and provisional arrest of a person wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence, pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.
It is not an international arrest warrant. The person is wanted by the requesting country or an international tribunal; each member country decides under its own law whether any measure will be taken.
For the person concerned, the review should cover not only the INTERPOL data but also the underlying national warrant, possible extradition proceedings, public or restricted circulation and specific travel routes.
Yellow Notice: Missing Persons and Identification
A Yellow Notice helps locate missing persons, often minors. It may also assist in identifying people who cannot reliably identify themselves.
Its purpose is protection, identification and information gathering, not locating a person for prosecution. In appropriate cases, INTERPOL may publish an extract to seek information from the public.
In family-related or cross-border missing-person cases, the Notice must be distinguished from any custody, family-law or criminal proceedings.
Blue Notice: Information for Criminal Investigations
A Blue Notice is used to collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in connection with a criminal investigation.
It does not request arrest. National authorities may nevertheless carry out checks, questioning or further investigative measures under their own law.
Legal assessment requires identifying the person concerned, the investigation behind the request and the data actually being circulated.
Black Notice: Identification of Unknown Bodies
A Black Notice seeks information about an unidentified body. It supports international identification through forensic, medical and other relevant information.
The Notice is not directed against a wanted person. Its purpose is identification and cooperation between the competent authorities.
Green Notice: Warning About Possible Public-Safety Risks
A Green Notice warns about a person’s criminal activities where that person is considered a possible threat to public safety.
It is neither an arrest warrant nor a final legal determination of future dangerousness. It may nevertheless become significant in border, visa or security checks.
Where information is inaccurate, outdated or disproportionate, the source, purpose, currency and compliance of the data with INTERPOL’s rules may require review.
Orange Notice: Warning About Imminent Threats
An Orange Notice warns of an event, a person, an object or a process representing a serious and imminent threat to public safety.
It is preventive in nature and may concern dangerous objects, weapons, concealed devices or emerging threat methods. Unlike a Green Notice, it does not necessarily focus on the longer-term risk associated with a particular person.
Purple Notice: Criminal Methods and Concealment
A Purple Notice is used to seek or provide information about criminal methods, objects, devices and concealment techniques.
It typically describes a modus operandi or method and is not, in itself, a request to arrest a particular person.
Its value lies in linking investigations across borders. Personal consequences arise only where the communication also contains personal data or prompts action in a national investigation.
Silver Notice: Tracing Criminal Assets
The Silver Notice is being used in a pilot phase to identify and trace criminal assets. It adds an asset-focused information channel to international police cooperation.
It is not a request to arrest a person and does not itself freeze or confiscate assets. Those measures require a legal basis and a decision by the competent national authorities.
Where accounts, companies or assets are affected, the source of the data, beneficial ownership, domestic preservation measures and available remedies must be assessed separately.
UN Special Notice: Implementation of UN Sanctions
This Special Notice is issued for individuals and entities targeted by a United Nations Security Council Sanctions Committee. Unlike most Notices, UN Special Notices are public.
The Notice supports implementation of UN sanctions. Travel bans, asset freezes and other restrictions arise from the relevant sanctions regime and its implementation in regional and national law.
A reliable review must therefore distinguish the UN listing, identity or attribution, EU and domestic implementing measures, and any available correction or delisting procedures.
Frequently asked questions about INTERPOL Notices
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