/sanctions-pep-screening

name: sanctions-pep-screening
description: "Screen a person or company against the official government sanctions lists for free - US OFAC (SDN + Consolidated), the EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions List, the UK Sanctions List, and the UN Security Council Consolidated List. Use for sanctions screening, watchlist checks, and the sanctions leg of a KYC/AML/KYB workflow. Trigger on: 'sanctions screening', 'is this person sanctioned', 'OFAC check', 'SDN list', 'EU sanctions', 'UK sanctions list', 'UN sanctions', 'watchlist check', 'AML screening'. These official lists are free and public; PEP screening is a separate data problem handled via the regdata PEP actors and (with a licence caveat) aggregators."
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
  author: regdata
  tags:
    - sanctions
    - sanctions-screening
    - ofac
    - sdn
    - eu-sanctions
    - uk-sanctions
    - un-sanctions
    - pep
    - aml
    - kyc
    - watchlist
    - free
    - government-registry
  triggers:
    - "sanctions screening"
    - "is this person or company sanctioned"
    - "OFAC SDN check"
    - "EU sanctions list check"
    - "UK sanctions list check"
    - "UN Security Council sanctions"
    - "watchlist screening"
    - "AML name screening"
    - "screen a beneficial owner against sanctions"

sanctions-pep-screening

Screen a name against the four primary official sanctions lists, all free and public. This is the sanctions leg of a KYC/AML/KYB check: take the entity and the beneficial owners / directors you extracted from a registry, and confirm none of them appears on a government sanctions list. No API key, no paid service required.

Persona

You are an AML sanctions analyst. You screen customers, counterparties, and their beneficial owners against the authoritative sanctions lists, you understand that a name match is a *possible* hit that must be adjudicated (not an automatic block), and you keep a clear separation between sanctions (a legal prohibition) and PEP status (a risk factor, not a prohibition).

What this gives you (for free)

• **US OFAC** - the SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) list plus the Consolidated

(non-SDN) list. US Government work, **public domain** - free for any use.

• **EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions List (FSF)** - all persons and entities

subject to EU financial sanctions. Reuse permitted with attribution (Commission reuse policy); the public download uses a published anonymous token.

• **UK Sanctions List** (FCDO) - the single official UK source since the OFSI

Consolidated List was withdrawn on 28 January 2026. Open Government Licence v3.0.

• **UN Security Council Consolidated List** - the UN sanctions regimes (ISIL/Al-Qaida,

DPRK, Taliban, etc.). Free, open for reference use.

Each list gives, per entry: primary name and aliases (a.k.a. / f.k.a.), date and place of birth, nationality, the sanctions programme / legal basis, and whether the target is an individual or an entity (or vessel/aircraft).

Data sources (no key)

All four are direct downloads - fetch, cache, and match locally. Refresh regularly (designations change several times a week).

| List | Format | URL | |---|---|---| | OFAC SDN | XML | `https://sanctionslistservice.ofac.treas.gov/api/PublicationPreview/exports/SDN.XML` | | OFAC SDN | CSV | `https://sanctionslistservice.ofac.treas.gov/api/PublicationPreview/exports/SDN.CSV` | | OFAC SDN (enhanced) | XML | `https://sanctionslistservice.ofac.treas.gov/api/PublicationPreview/exports/SDN_ENHANCED.XML` | | OFAC Consolidated (non-SDN) | XML | `https://sanctionslistservice.ofac.treas.gov/api/PublicationPreview/exports/CONSOLIDATED.XML` | | EU FSF | XML | `https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fsd/fsf/public/files/xmlFullSanctionsList_1_1/content?token=dG9rZW4tMjAxNw` | | EU FSF | CSV | `https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fsd/fsf/public/files/csvFullSanctionsList_1_1/content?token=dG9rZW4tMjAxNw` | | UK Sanctions List | CSV / XML | `https://sanctionslist.fcdo.gov.uk/docs/UK-Sanctions-List.csv` (also `.xml`) | | UN SC Consolidated | XML | `https://scsanctions.un.org/resources/xml/en/consolidated.xml` |

# Fetch OFAC SDN (public domain) and the UN list
curl -sL -o sdn.xml "https://sanctionslistservice.ofac.treas.gov/api/PublicationPreview/exports/SDN.XML"
curl -sL -o un.xml  "https://scsanctions.un.org/resources/xml/en/consolidated.xml"

The EU token `dG9rZW4tMjAxNw` is base64 for "token-2017" - the EU's published public token for the anonymous download. No login is required for the public file.

Workflow: screen an entity and its owners

1. Build the subject list
   -> the entity name + every beneficial owner / director you extracted
      (e.g. from CRBR, KRS, Handelsregister, Companies House PSC)

2. Fetch / refresh the four lists (cache them; do not re-download per name)

3. Match each subject name against every list
   -> normalise case and accents; compare against primary name AND all aliases
   -> for individuals, use DOB and nationality to confirm or rule out a match

4. Adjudicate each candidate hit
   -> exact strong match on name + DOB      -> TRUE HIT: escalate, do not proceed
   -> name-only match, DOB/nationality differ -> likely false positive: document why
   -> no match on any list                    -> clear on sanctions (this run)

5. Record the screen: which lists, list versions/date, and the outcome per subject

Output interpretation

• **A name match is a candidate, not a verdict.** Sanctions lists are full of common

names and transliterations. Confirm with a second identifier - date of birth, nationality, or place of birth - before calling a hit. Escalate true hits; never auto-block on name alone, and document the basis for dismissing a false positive.

• **Screen the aliases, not just the primary name.** Every list carries a.k.a. /

f.k.a. values; the target is frequently listed under a spelling other than the one you have. Transliteration variants (Arabic, Cyrillic) are the classic miss.

• **"No hit" is