Breaking Down the Latest News from INTERPOL’s CCF
By, Dr. Ted R. Bromund
The Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files (CCF) is INTERPOL’s appellate body, responsible for ensuring that personal data processed through INTERPOL complies with its rules. It plays a central role in the work that attorneys at Grossman Young & Hammond do to protect clients by deleting persecutory Red Notices.
In early April, three representatives of GYH – Sandra Grossman Esq., Charlie Magri Esq., and Dr. Ted R. Bromund – assessed the latest news from the CCF in an article in the International Enforcement Law Reporter. The Reporter is paywalled, but GYH’s article, “Commission for the Control of INTERPOL’s Files Acknowledges and Addresses Delays,” is available free below.
The GYH team noted that, according to the CCF’s own Annual Report for 2024, the CCF continues to be seriously delayed in deciding on many submissions. These delays have many causes, but a fundamental issue is that cases have grown in number and complexity and CCF resources have not kept pace.
A very modest piece of good news is that 40 percent of the data that the CCF examined in 2024 complied with Interpol’s rules. That sounds low – and it is – but 40 percent is an increase over the 26 percent of data found compliant in 2022 and the 32 percent found compliant in 2023.
The CCF is taking steps to attempt to deal with the delays that plague it. It is expanding online case reviews by CCF members and, on March 26, it launched an online portal for submissions that it hopes will help it manage the amount of email it receives more efficiently.
The CCF portal does not compare in importance to the CCF elections. The current CCF members have substantially increased the professionalism of the CCF. But the terms of those members expire on March 11, 2027. Their positions will be filled at the next meeting of the General Assembly, to be held in Hong Kong, now on November 30-December 3, 2026. It is vital that the new CCF members are as competent and professional as the current ones.
The CCF’s 2024 Report paints a picture of a CCF that is seeking to meet the challenge of the steady increase in the number and complexity of the cases before it. In 2026, the ability of the CCF to bring new resources online, to come through the election process, and to navigate the ongoing review of its Statue – to which GYH is contributing — will face important tests that will determine whether it can fulfill its functions.
