A Blue Notice is not harmless. Here is why.
A Blue Notice asks other countries for information about your identity, location or activities. No arrest is requested — and that is exactly why people ignore it.
It still places you in the databases, it is visible to border officers and to banks running compliance checks, and it very often precedes a request for arrest from the same country.
Blue and Red
How it differs from a Red Notice
The difference is in what the country asks for. The rules that decide whether the record may stay are the same.
| Red Notice | Blue Notice | |
|---|---|---|
| What it asks for | Locate and provisionally arrest, pending extradition | Information on identity, location or activities |
| Arrest | Requested | Not requested |
| Public extract | Possible, if the country agrees | Not published |
| Can it be deleted? | Yes, by the Commission | Yes, by the Commission — on the same rules |
In practice
What happens at the border and in the bank
No one arrests you. But the record works every time your passport or your name is checked.
-
01
At the border
The officer sees a hit. Secondary questioning follows, and your location can be reported to the country that asked for it — which is the point of the notice.
-
02
In the bank
Compliance teams react to what checks turn up: the record, the case behind it, the questioning it causes. Accounts get reviewed, then closed.
-
03
Visas and residence
Consulates and immigration services run the same checks. Refusals usually come without a stated reason.
Finding out
How to learn that it exists
Blue Notices are not published. You will not find one on any public list, and no one is obliged to tell you about it.
The reliable way is a data access request to the Commission. It is also the first step towards deletion.
Deletion
Grounds for removal
The same rules apply as to a Red Notice. Often the argument is stronger: there is even less material behind a request for information.
-
01
Political character
Using police channels to track a critic, an opposition figure or a witness falls outside what the organisation may be used for.
-
02
No genuine criminal case
A notice needs a real investigation behind it. Vague allegations with no facts attached do not meet the rules.
-
03
The wrong purpose
Locating a business rival or a debtor in a civil dispute is not a police purpose, whatever label the request carries.
-
04
Outdated or wrong data
A closed case, an expired limitation period or a mistaken identity leave nothing to keep on file.
Next step
A Blue Notice is the cheapest point to act. Find out where you stand.
Timing
Why act before it becomes a request for arrest
A Blue Notice is often the first step. The country learns where you are, then asks for your arrest.
While the record is only a request for information, there is less to argue against, and no extradition proceedings are running in parallel.
A finding that the case is political, or has no criminal basis, also makes a later Red Notice on the same facts harder to justify.
Once a Red Notice follows, the same work has to be done under the pressure of possible arrest. Grounds for deleting a Red Notice.
Your attorney
Who handles your case
Dmytro Konovalenko
- Status
- Attorney-at-law
- Bar Certificate
- No. 001156
- Membership
- International Bar Association
- Focus
- Requests from post-Soviet states
More than five years defending against Red Notices and extradition requests. You work with me directly, from the first assessment to the decision.
Full professional backgroundCan I be arrested on a Blue Notice?
Not on the notice itself: it does not request arrest. But a check at the border can reveal other alerts, and national authorities act under their own law.
Is a Blue Notice public?
No. It is shared between police services only. The way to see it is a data access request.
Will it expire on its own?
Notices are issued for a limited period, and the requesting country can renew them. Waiting is not a strategy.
I only suspect there is one. Where do I start?
With an access request. It tells you what is recorded and is the first step towards deletion. How to check your record.
How long does removal take?
The same as for a Red Notice: the Commission's rules set nine months for a deletion request, counted from admissibility. How the CCF procedure works.