UK Sanctions List Change Monitor (FCDO UKSL)

Track changes to the UK Sanctions List entries you are exposed to. Watch FCDO UK Sanctions List (UKSL) Unique IDs (or OFSI Group IDs) and get a typed DELISTED / VARIATION / DESIGNATED event when the official UKSL CSV/XML changes for an entry on your book: a delisting, a change of regime or sanctions imposed, new names or aliases, or a watched ID (re)appearing on the list. Built for compliance teams and MLROs that hold frozen assets, act under OFSI licences, or monitor listed counterparties. Official FCDO file, no API key. Not a new-customer screening tool (name watch is an imperfect exact-normalised match; see First run vs later runs), not a multi-list OFAC / EU / UN screener, and not an HTML scrape.

Quick start: put the UKSL Unique IDs you watch in UKSL Unique IDs to watch → set Source mode = live (no key needed) → save as a Task and schedule it daily. The first live run records a baseline (no charge); later runs deliver an event only when a watched entry is delisted, varied or (re)designated. Clicking Start with the defaults runs a free health check only.

Who this is for

• Banks, payment firms and insurers holding frozen funds, accounts or policies of designated persons, who must act when an entry is varied or delisted.
• Law firms and professional advisers acting under OFSI licences for listed clients or counterparties.
• Compliance teams that have matched specific UKSL entries and need an audit trail of changes to those entries (with FCDO as_of and source_url).

Not a replacement for customer screening: to find out whether a customer is newly designated, use a screening tool. This Actor watches entries you already know.

Typical workflow

1. List the UKSL Unique IDs you are exposed to (e.g. AFG0001); optionally OFSI Group IDs.
2. Run once with sourceMode: "live" — this records a baseline of each watched entry (no charge, no events).
3. Save as a Task and schedule daily (FCDO publishes on a daily-class cadence).
4. Each later run downloads the official UKSL file, compares it with the stored baseline and delivers UKSL_DELISTED, UKSL_VARIATION or UKSL_DESIGNATED only for entries on your book. Route them to case management or email via Apify integrations and keep as_of / source_url as evidence.

First run vs later runs

Run 1 (live) is a baseline: it stores the current UKSL state of every watched entry and emits no events. Run 2 onwards compares against that baseline, so keep the same Task (its key-value store holds the checkpoint). A watched Unique ID that is absent at baseline and later appears is reported as UKSL_DESIGNATED. Names: on a name's first run, entries already listed under that name are stored as a baseline (no events). If the watched name later appears under a new Unique ID, that is reported as UKSL_DESIGNATED with match_method: "name". A name added to the watchlist later gets its own silent baseline run first. Name matching is exact after normalisation (case, accents, punctuation), so spelling variants and transliterations are not caught; prefer Unique ID.

Example output (SAMPLE)

SAMPLE — illustrative values in the real output shape; XXX0000 / EXAMPLE HOLDINGS LTD / Example Regime are placeholders, not a real UKSL entry or a real delisting.

{
  "unique_id": "XXX0000",
  "ofsi_group_id": "00000",
  "primary_name": "EXAMPLE HOLDINGS LTD",
  "event_type": "UKSL_DELISTED",
  "event_subtype": "ABSENT_FROM_LIST",
  "changed_fields": [
    "missing"
  ],
  "previous_value": "designated",
  "new_value": "absent",
  "effective_date": "2026-09-17",
  "as_of": "2026-09-17",
  "evidence": {
    "previous_regime": "Example Regime",
    "previous_sanctions": "Asset freeze",
    "previous_names": [
      "EXAMPLE HOLDINGS LTD"
    ],
    "previous_ofsi_group_id": "00000"
  },
  "summary": "Unique ID XXX0000 (EXAMPLE HOLDINGS LTD) no longer present on FCDO UK Sanctions List — DELISTED / revoked for the watched book.",
  "source_url": "https://sanctionslist.fcdo.gov.uk/docs/UK-Sanctions-List.csv",
  "event_uid": "<md5>",
  "billable": true,
  "match_method": "unique_id"
}

What you get per $0.02 event: one deduplicated delisting, material variation or designation for one entry on your watchlist (one dataset row like the sample above). Baselines, quiet runs, duplicates and entries not on your book are never charged.

What this Actor does

1. Takes your watchlist (uniqueIds preferred; optional ofsiGroupIds / names).
2. In live mode, downloads the official FCDO machine-readable file once:
   • https://sanctionslist.fcdo.gov.uk/docs/UK-Sanctions-List.csv (primary)
   • .xml reachable when preferFormat=xml (aggregation still uses Unique-ID CSV grain)
3. Matches watched keys only (Unique ID / OFSI Group ID / imperfect name).
4. Diffs against a durable Key-Value Store checkpoint.
5. Pushes only material designation events for counterparties on your book (PPE), plus one non-billable RUN_STATUS health row.

First observation of a Unique ID is baseline only (no charge). Quiet days ≈ $0 product charges.

Coverage honesty (read this)

In scope	Out of scope
Official FCDO UK Sanctions List (UKSL) CSV/XML	OFAC SDN, EU consolidated, UN list as primary
Post-2026-01-28 single UK designations list	Multi-jurisdiction “screen once” screener SKU
Unique ID / OFSI Group ID portfolio watch	Nationwide dump of all designations billed as rows
Material VARIATION on regime / sanctions / names	HTML scrape of search-uk-sanctions-list UI
Daily-class FCDO file publish cadence	Intra-day FCDO email alert replacement

Name match is imperfect (aliases, non-Latin script, transliteration). Prefer Unique ID. Cite FCDO + retrieval date (as_of / fetchedAt). Do not use Crown emblems.

Input

Field	Notes
uniqueIds	Preferred FCDO Unique IDs (AFG0001).
ofsiGroupIds	Optional legacy OFSI Group IDs.
names	Optional normalised names — imperfect; prefer Unique ID.
signalGroups	designation (DESIGNATED/DELISTED), variation (material field changes).
sourceMode	fixture (default — Store health) or live (FCDO CSV/XML; no API key).
emitFixtureDemoEvents	Default false. Only enable for local demos; Store auto-tests must stay false.
preferFormat	csv (default) or xml.

Output events (billable)

event_type	When
UKSL_DESIGNATED	Watched identity absent → present on UKSL
UKSL_DELISTED	Watched identity present → absent on UKSL
UKSL_VARIATION	Material regime / sanctions / names / designation-type change while still listed

Every successful run also pushes RUN_STATUS with billable: false (FIXTURE_HEALTH / MONITOR_IDLE / CATCHUP_COMPLETE / HEALTH_OK).

Pricing (PPE)

Event	Price
uksl-designation-event-delivered	$0.02 ($20 / 1k)
apify-actor-start	$0.00005

You pay when a counterparty on your watchlist has a material designation/delisting/variation and we deliver it. Not charged: baselines, quiet books, duplicates, invalids, RUN_STATUS, fixture health.

Modes

• Fixture (default): no network; emits RUN_STATUS / FIXTURE_HEALTH only → 0 product charges (Store daily auto-test safe).
• Live: official FCDO UKSL CSV/XML — no key required.

Legal

UKSL published by FCDO for public reuse. Cite FCDO + retrieval date. Unique ID preferred; name match imperfect. Not a multi-jurisdiction screener. Do not present as ComplyAdvantage / World-Check / OpenSanctions paid coverage.

Not this product

• neuton/uk-sanctions-list-scraper, parseforge/uk-hmt-sanctions-scraper, muhammadafzal/uk-hm-treasury-sanctions-scraper — dumps / lookups (different job).
• mooseandraven/ofac-sanctions-screening-suite, regdata/adverse-media-screener, OpenSanctions search Actors — multi-list / point-in-time screeners.
• nexgenwatch/eu-consolidated-sanctions-change-watch — EU whole-list change, not UKSL portfolio book.
• HTML scrape of FCDO search UI; OFAC SDN scrape; ComplyAdvantage / OpenSanctions paid API as primary.

Example input (live baseline)

{
  "uniqueIds": ["AFG0001", "AFG0003"],
  "ofsiGroupIds": [],
  "names": [],
  "sourceMode": "live",
  "signalGroups": ["designation", "variation"],
  "preferFormat": "csv",
  "resumeFromCheckpoint": true,
  "emitFixtureDemoEvents": false,
  "maxRunSeconds": 120
}

First live run stores baselines only. Subsequent scheduled runs emit events when designation state or material fields flip on the book.