U.S. Export Transaction Restricted-Party Screening API

A small B2B API that screens every named party in an export transaction against the official U.S. Consolidated Screening List (CSL) and returns explainable candidate matches for human review.

Core rule

The API never returns LEGAL, ILLEGAL, APPROVED, DENIED, or CLEAR.

It returns only:

• NO_LIST_MATCH — no actionable candidate match was found in the synchronized CSL data.
• REVIEW — evidence is sufficiently similar to require human review.
• POTENTIAL_MATCH — strong evidence of a possible CSL identity match; human review is required.

Two ways to use the Actor

1. Run tab in Apify Console

The Actor now supports a simple direct run:

• operation = status — lightweight readiness check. This is the default and does not load the full screening engine.
• operation = screen_party — quick single-party screening using the structured party input.

The Run-tab fields include descriptions and a safe example so a new user can understand the expected input without reading API code first.

2. Standby HTTP API

Use the Standby API for production integrations, transaction-level screening, and batch workloads:

• POST /v1/party/screen
• POST /v1/transaction/screen — primary commercial endpoint
• POST /v1/transaction/batch
• GET /v1/lists/status
• GET /health

Interactive OpenAPI docs are available at the Actor Standby URL under /docs.

Example transaction request

{
  "transaction_id": "TX-9472",
  "destination_country": "AE",
  "parties": [
    {
      "name": "Example Industrial Trading LLC",
      "role": "consignee",
      "country": "AE",
      "address": "12 Example Road",
      "city": "Dubai"
    }
  ]
}

The engine separates primary-name similarity, alias similarity, address similarity, country consistency, identifier matches, and entity-type consistency. The API exposes these signals rather than hiding them inside a single opaque risk score.

Pricing

The commercial screening event is $0.01 per successfully screened party.

• POST /v1/party/screen charges one party-screening event.
• POST /v1/transaction/screen charges one event per party in the transaction.
• POST /v1/transaction/batch charges one event per party across all transactions.
• A direct Run-tab screen_party operation charges one party-screening event.
• Health/status calls do not charge a party-screening event. Apify's small automatic Actor-start/result events can still apply according to the Store pricing table.

Reliability design

Health and status checks read the compact CSL metadata snapshot without building the RapidFuzz screening index. The full dataset and screening engine are initialized lazily only when a screening is actually requested. This keeps Apify Store QA runs and health checks fast while preserving the same screening logic for production calls.

Dataset synchronization

scripts/sync_csl.py downloads the official machine-readable CSL feed and creates a compact local dataset. A GitHub Actions workflow refreshes it daily, runs tests, deploys the Actor to Apify, verifies the standard-run Store contract, and performs live Standby smoke tests.

Official source: https://www.trade.gov/consolidated-screening-list

Important limitations

This is a restricted-party screening aid, not legal advice or a transaction authorization system. NO_LIST_MATCH is not a compliance clearance. V1 does not evaluate beneficial ownership or OFAC's 50 Percent Rule, ECCN/classification, end-use, licensing, or non-U.S. sanctions lists. Potential matches require additional due diligence against authoritative source lists and applicable regulations.

Required ITA attribution

This product uses the International Trade Administration’s Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the International Trade Administration.

Local development

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements-dev.txt
python scripts/sync_csl.py
uvicorn app.main:app --reload

Run tests:

pytest -q