Sanctions Screening: OFAC, UN, EU, UK

Screen people and companies against the official sanctions lists of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and the United Kingdom in one call:

• OFAC SDN (Specially Designated Nationals) and OFAC Consolidated (non-SDN), US Treasury
• UN Security Council Consolidated List (XML)
• EU Financial Sanctions Files (consolidated list of persons, groups and entities subject to EU financial sanctions)
• UK Sanctions List (FCDO)

Each name gets a 0-100 score with fuzzy matching that handles transliteration (Cyrillic, Arabic, accents), word order ("Putin Vladimir"), aliases (a.k.a.) and spelling variants. Every possible match explains why it matched, and every result carries the date and version of each list used, for your audit trail.

Screening support, not a legal decision. This Actor helps you find names that need a closer look. A possible match is not a confirmation that someone is sanctioned, and a "no-match" is not a clearance. False positives are expected, especially for common names. Always review possible matches against the official source and follow your own compliance procedures; for decisions with legal effect, consult a qualified professional.

Not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the US Treasury (OFAC), the United Nations, the European Union or the UK government. This Actor only reads the lists they publish.

Why this Actor

• Four authorities, five lists, one run. No need to call four sites with four file formats.
• Explained results. For each hit: which name or alias matched, how (exact, word order, fuzzy, partial), and which of your extra fields (country, year, type) agreed or disagreed.
• Audit trail. Every item lists each list's publication date (when the source gives one), download time, SHA-256 fingerprint and entry count.
• Official sources only, downloaded directly from the US Treasury, the UN, the European Commission and the UK government. No third-party aggregator in between.
• Fast repeat runs. Lists are cached for the day in a named key-value store in your account, so only the first run of the day downloads them.
• Minimal personal data. Results include names, aliases, countries, birth/founding years, programs and list references. Addresses, ID and passport numbers and full birth dates are not copied.

Input

Field	Description
names	Names to screen, one per line. Any script and word order.
entities	Names with details: {"name", "country", "year", "type", "reference"}. country is an ISO code or a name (English or Portuguese); year is the year of birth (people) or incorporation (companies); type is person or organization; reference is your own id, copied to the output.
lists	Which lists to use: ofac_sdn, ofac_consolidated, un, eu, uk. Default: all.
minScore	Lowest score returned (default 85). Lower finds more spelling variants and more false positives.
maxMatchesPerName	Best possible matches kept per name (default 10).
entityType	Default type for names without one: any, person or organization.
cacheStoreName	Named key-value store for the daily cache (default sanctions-lists-cache). Empty disables the cache.
forceRefresh	Download every list again even if today's copy is cached.

Example:

{
  "names": ["Banco Nacional de Cuba", "Путин Владимир"],
  "entities": [{"name": "Ismail Haniyeh", "country": "PS", "year": 1962, "type": "person", "reference": "customer-001"}]
}

How the score works

1. Names are transliterated to Latin letters (unidecode), lowercased, punctuation and company legal forms (Ltd, LLC, S.A., Ltda, GmbH…) are removed.
2. Your name is compared with every primary name and alias: same words = 100, same words in another order = 98, otherwise a fuzzy word-order-insensitive similarity. When all words of the shorter name appear in the longer one (missing middle names), the score is 80-98 depending on how many words are missing. Low-quality aliases (as flagged by the source) get -5.
3. Optional details adjust the score: country +3 if it matches, -10 if the entry has countries and none match; year +5 exact, +2 within one year, -20 otherwise; type -15 if person vs organization differ.

Output

One dataset item per screened name:

{
  "query": "Ismail Haniyeh",
  "queryCountry": "PS",
  "queryYear": 1962,
  "queryType": "person",
  "reference": "customer-001",
  "status": "possible-match",
  "matchCount": 2,
  "topScore": 100,
  "matches": [
    {
      "score": 100,
      "list": "ofac_sdn",
      "listName": "OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List",
      "entryId": "23627",
      "entryType": "person",
      "name": "HANIYEH, Ismail",
      "reason": {
        "matchedName": "HANIYEH, Ismail",
        "matchedNameKind": "primary",
        "method": "same words, different order",
        "nameScore": 98,
        "matchedFields": ["name", "type", "year"],
        "mismatchedFields": [],
        "notes": []
      },
      "aliases": [],
      "countries": [],
      "birthOrFoundingYears": [1962],
      "programs": ["SDGT"],
      "listedOn": null,
      "sourceUrl": "https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=23627"
    }
  ],
  "listVersions": [
    {"list": "ofac_sdn", "listName": "OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List", "publishedAt": "Wed, 29 Oct 2026 19:02:11 GMT", "downloadedAt": "2026-10-30T09:00:03+00:00", "sha256": "4f0c…", "entries": 18000, "sourceUrls": ["https://sanctionslistservice.ofac.treas.gov/api/PublicationPreview/exports/SDN.CSV", "…"], "fromCache": true, "stale": false}
  ],
  "screenedAt": "2026-10-30T09:00:05+00:00"
}

The values in listVersions above are illustrative. publishedAt comes from the file itself for the UN (dateGenerated), the EU (fileGenerationDate) and the UK (Report Date); the OFAC CSV files carry no date, so the HTTP Last-Modified header is used when the server sends it, and the sha256 fingerprint identifies the exact file version in every case.

status is possible-match, no-match or error (for example, an empty name). The Possible matches view in the dataset shows one row per match. The run's OUTPUT record has totals and the list versions.

If a list cannot be downloaded, the Actor uses a cached copy up to 7 days old and marks it "stale": true; if there is no such copy, the run fails without charging.

How much does it cost?

Pay per event: one screened-name event per name screened, with or without a possible match. Names that end in error are not charged, and nothing is charged if the lists cannot be loaded. Suggested price: US$ 0.004 per name (US$ 4 per 1,000 names), plus Apify's standard apify-actor-start event (a fraction of a cent per run).

Platform usage is small: about 0.5 GB of memory, a few seconds to load the cached lists and a fraction of a second per name.

$0.004 per screened name (screened-name event, pay per event). Charged once per name screened against all lists, match or no match. Invalid inputs are free.

• apify-actor-start: $0.00005 (Charged once when a run starts (Apify synthetic event).)

You get	Free tier	Bronze tier (10% off)	Gold tier (30% off)
100 screened names	$0.40	$0.36	$0.28
1,000 screened names	$4.00	$3.60	$2.80
10,000 screened names	$40.00	$36.00	$28.00

Discounts follow your Apify subscription tier: Bronze 10%, Silver 20%, Gold and above 30%. No subscription to this Actor and no charge for platform usage: you pay only for results. The Apify Free plan includes $5 of monthly credit, enough for about 1,250 screened names at the list price. You can cap the cost of any run with Maximum cost per run; the Actor stops when it is reached.

Data source

List	Publisher	File	Terms
OFAC SDN and Consolidated	US Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control	SDN.CSV, ALT.CSV, ADD.CSV, CONS_*.CSV from the Sanctions List Service	US federal government work, public domain
UN Consolidated List	UN Security Council	consolidated.xml	UN website terms; the list is published for incorporation into national and private screening systems
EU Financial Sanctions Files	European Commission (DG FISMA)	csvFullSanctionsList_1_1	Commission reuse policy (Decision 2011/833/EU); only the Official Journal of the EU is authentic
UK Sanctions List	Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office	UK-Sanctions-List.csv	Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0

Each list is downloaded at most once a day per account (cache), far below any publisher's rate limits. Sanctions lists change often, sometimes several times a week. The cache is refreshed on the first run of each day (UTC). Use forceRefresh right after a known designation. The data and its accuracy are the responsibility of each publisher; this Actor does not add or remove names.

More questions

Does a "no-match" mean the person or company is cleared?

No. It means no entry on the lists you selected scored at or above minScore. The Actor supports screening; it does not replace your due diligence or a compliance decision. Possible matches must be reviewed against the official source, and a clean result covers only these five lists on the date shown in listVersions.

Which lists are not covered?

Only the five lists above are checked: OFAC SDN, OFAC Consolidated (non-SDN), the UN Security Council Consolidated List, the EU Financial Sanctions Files and the UK Sanctions List. Politically exposed persons (PEPs), adverse media, export-control lists such as the US BIS Entity List, other countries' lists (Switzerland, Canada, Australia...) and Brazilian registers such as CEIS/CNEP are not included.

How up to date are the lists?

Each list is downloaded on the first run of the day (UTC) and cached for the rest of that day in a named key-value store in your account. Use forceRefresh to download again right after a new designation. If a publisher's site is down, the Actor uses the cached copy if it is at most 7 days old and marks that list stale: true in listVersions. With no usable copy the run fails with a clear message: it never answers "no-match" without the list.

What minScore should I use?

The default of 85 catches word order, aliases, transliteration and small spelling differences while keeping noise low. Lower values (down to 50) find more variants and more false positives; 100 keeps only exact matches after normalization. Adding country, year and type to each name raises the score of the right entry and lowers others (for example, a birth year that differs by more than one year takes 20 points off).

Can I screen names written in Cyrillic, Arabic or with accents?

Yes. Names are transliterated to Latin letters before comparison, so "Путин Владимир" finds "Vladimir Putin". Word order does not matter, legal forms (Ltd, LLC, S.A., Ltda, GmbH...) are ignored and every alias of each entry is compared. A name that is empty after normalization (only punctuation, for example) returns an error item that is not charged.

Why am I charged when there is no match?

Because the screening itself is the product: each item records that the name was checked against each list, with the list versions, for your audit trail. One screened-name event per name, match or no match. Names that cannot be screened (empty after normalization) are free.

How many names can I screen in one run?

Up to 10,000 names per run, from names and entities together. Loading the lists takes a few seconds (longer on the first run of the day, when they are downloaded); after that each name takes a fraction of a second. Your own reference in entities is copied to the output so you can join the results back to your customer list.

Use it via API

Run it from any language and get the results as JSON. Replace <YOUR_API_TOKEN> with your Apify API token.

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/br_data_hub~global-sanctions-screening/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_API_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"names": ["Banco Nacional de Cuba", "Vladimir Putin", "Acme Comércio Ltda"], "entities": [{"name": "Ismail Haniyeh", "country": "PS", "year": 1962, "type": "person", "reference": "customer-001"}]}'

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("br_data_hub/global-sanctions-screening").call(run_input={'names': ['Banco Nacional de Cuba', 'Vladimir Putin', 'Acme Comércio Ltda'],
                                      'entities': [{'name': 'Ismail Haniyeh',
                                                    'country': 'PS',
                                                    'year': 1962,
                                                    'type': 'person',
                                                    'reference': 'customer-001'}]})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

You can also schedule runs, send results to webhooks, or connect the Actor to Make, Zapier, n8n, Google Sheets and other integrations.

Use it with AI agents (MCP)

This Actor is ready for AI agents: typed input and output schemas, pay-per-event pricing, limited permissions and short runs.

• Apify MCP server: add https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=br_data_hub/global-sanctions-screening to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code or any MCP client, and the agent can call this Actor as a tool.
• Agent frameworks: call it from LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI or the OpenAI Agents SDK through the Apify integrations, or with the API call above.
• Results come as structured JSON with stable field names, documented in the Output tab.

FAQ

Where does the data come from?

| List | Publisher | File | Terms | |---|---|---|---| | OFAC SDN and Consolidated | US Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control | SDN.CSV, ALT.CSV, ADD.CSV, CONS_*.CSV from the Sanctions List Service | US federal government work, public domain | | UN Consolidated List | UN Security Council | consolidated.xml | UN website terms; the list is published for incorporation into national and private screening systems | | EU Financial Sanctions Files | European Commission (DG FISMA) | csvFullSanctionsList_1_1 | Commission reuse policy (Decision 2011/833/EU); only the Official Journal of the EU is authentic | | UK Sanctions List | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | UK-Sanctions-List.csv | Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 |

How much does it cost?

$0.004 per screened name. Discounts follow your Apify subscription tier: Bronze 10%, Silver 20%, Gold and above 30%. See How much does it cost? above for examples.

Do I pay for errors or empty results?

No. Charged once per name screened against all lists, match or no match. Invalid inputs are free.

Can I run it on a schedule or connect it to other tools?

Yes. Use Apify schedules to run it daily or weekly, webhooks to get notified, and integrations such as Make, Zapier, n8n and Google Sheets. Everything also works through the API.

Can AI agents use it?

Yes. It works as a tool in the Apify MCP server and in agent frameworks, and AI agents can pay per event. See Use it with AI agents (MCP).

Is it legal to use this data?

The Actor reads only public sources. You are responsible for how you use the data and for complying with the source's terms and with privacy laws such as GDPR.

I found a bug or need a feature. What should I do?

Open an issue in the Issues tab. We answer within 14 days, usually much sooner.

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Usar em português

Sem afiliação com o Tesouro dos EUA, a ONU, a UE ou o governo britânico; o Actor só lê as listas que eles publicam.

Confere nomes de pessoas e empresas contra as listas oficiais de sanções dos EUA (OFAC SDN e Consolidated), da ONU (Conselho de Segurança), da União Europeia e do Reino Unido, numa só execução. A busca é aproximada: translitera (cirílico, árabe, acentos), ignora a ordem das palavras e confere os apelidos (aliases). Cada resultado traz uma nota de 0 a 100, o motivo (qual nome ou alias bateu e quais campos conferiram) e a data e versão de cada lista, para trilha de auditoria. Pode informar país (sigla ou nome em português, como "Rússia") e ano de nascimento ou de constituição para melhorar a nota.

É apoio à triagem, não decisão jurídica. Um resultado possível não prova que a pessoa ou empresa está sancionada, e "sem resultado" não é liberação. Falso positivo é esperado, principalmente com nomes comuns. Confira sempre na fonte oficial e siga os procedimentos de compliance da sua empresa.

Cobrança: um evento screened-name por nome conferido, com ou sem resultado; nome com erro não é cobrado. As listas ficam em cache por dia numa key-value store nomeada da sua conta.

Quanto custa: $0.004 por resultado (screened-name); 1.000 resultados saem por $4.00. Desconto pelo nível da assinatura Apify: Bronze 10%, Silver 20%, Gold ou acima 30%. Erros e consultas sem resultado não são cobrados. Use também pela API ou por agentes de IA no servidor MCP da Apify (https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=br_data_hub/global-sanctions-screening).