INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF’s) third session of the year will occur from October 16th to the 20th. If the CCF has no more sessions this year, this will be the last session that the CCF will review INTERPOL notice subjects’ requests for notice removal and access to information.  

The CCF’s Processing of Notice Requests

The CCF receives requests from attorneys and individuals seeking access to INTERPOL’s files as well as requests for removal or correction of data. When reviewing requests, the CCF Secretariat examines and determines the admissibility of each request it receives. The CCF then performs a detailed assessment of the request according to the Organization’s rules. This will typically involve gathering more information from the applicant and the source of information, and may include a review of open source information. A summary of the case is then submitted to the Commission during one of its sessions for discussion and a decision. 

As the CCF has four months to render a decision on an access request, and nine months to decide on a correction/deletion request, any requests not addressed in the upcoming session will likely be discussed in January. Although the CCF does not always notify an individual that their request will be discussed at the next session, the CCF’s general procedure includes communicating the results of a processed request, so if no results are received, it may be assumed that the request will be discussed at the next session. 

When its decision becomes final, the CCF notifies an applicant within one month.

What to expect from the CCF

Each year, the CCF releases its annual activities report, which includes a review of the activities of the prior year’s supervisory and advisory chambers as well as the requests chamber. If the CCF’s reports from 2021 as well as 2019-2020(combined report due to COVID-19) are indicators of what to expect this year, we await over 1,500 finalized CCF requests, a majority of them being complaints access requests. 

Once the CCF’s annual report is released, RNLJ will be able to compare this year’s with years past and discuss the meaning behind any variations present. 

As always, thoughts and comments are welcomed.