Article 24 of INTERPOL’s Rules on the processing of information for the purposes of international police co-operation specifies that 'Disputes that arise between National Central Bureaus (NCBs) […] should be solved by concerted consultation. If this fails, the matter may be submitted to the Executive Committee and, if necessary, to the General Assembly […]'.
Consistent with Article 24, delegations from NCB Argentina and NCB Iran met at the INTERPOL General Secretariat on 22 January 2007, but were unable to resolve the dispute between themselves at that time. As a consequence of the failure to resolve the dispute during the 22 January 2007 meeting, the matter has now been referred to the Executive Committee for its consideration in accordance with Article 24. Specifically, it has been placed on the agenda of the Executive Committee session to be held from 13 to 15 March 2007 at the INTERPOL General Secretariat in Lyon, France.
In preparation for the Executive Committee meeting, INTERPOL’s Office of Legal Affairs prepared a report regarding the dispute which has been forwarded to all Executive Committee Members and to both NCB Argentina and NCB Iran. (Under INTERPOL’s Rules, documents prepared for submission to INTERPOL’s Executive Committee are confidential. Therefore, the INTERPOL General Secretariat will not comment on the substance of the documents that have been submitted to the Executive Committee for its upcoming meeting.)
To allow both NCB Agentina and NCB Iran the opportunity to present their views to the Executive Committee, both parties have been invited to make written submissions to the Executive Committee and to have delegations of up to four persons each, to participate personally in the Executive Committee meeting when the relevant agenda item is discussed.
Both NCB Argentina and NCB Iran have stated that they intend to send a delegation to participate in that Executive Committee meeting.
If the dispute between NCB Argentina and NCB Iran is not resolved during the Executive Committee’s upcoming meeting (13 to 15 March 2007), the Executive Committee may take a position on the substance of the dispute and/or refer the dispute to the INTERPOL General Assembly for consideration during its next meeting (5 to 8 November2007). This would be in accordance with Article 24´s dispute resolution procedure which states that if concerted consultation between the NCBs fail, the dispute 'may be submitted to the Executive Committee and, if necessary, to the General Assembly […]'.
The INTERPOL General Assembly would then be expected to take a final decision on the matter.