Sanctions & Company Check: OFAC, UN, EU, UK, LEI, VAT

What does Sanctions & Company Check do?

Sanctions & Company Check screens the companies you work with against the OFAC (US), UN Security Council, EU and UK sanctions lists and the US export control lists (Entity List, Denied Persons, Unverified and Military End User lists, ITAR debarred and nonproliferation sanctions), straight from the official files, and adds each company's LEI record from GLEIF and EU VAT validation from VIES. You get one result per company with a clear hit, review or clear outcome, the closest listed names with scores, and links to verify them.

It collects data from OFAC, UN Security Council, EU Financial Sanctions Files, UK FCDO, US Consolidated Screening List, GLEIF and EU VIES and returns clean, structured results you can download or pull through the Apify API.

Why use Sanctions & Company Check?

• Know your business (KYB) and supplier onboarding: check a new customer, supplier or partner in seconds, with the LEI and VAT registration in the same result.
• Ongoing monitoring: schedule a daily run over your customer list with Only new results on, and you get, and pay for, only companies whose outcome changed, such as a new designation.
• Trade compliance and export teams: screen consignees, vessels and banks against the major sanctions lists and the Entity List in one call.
• Fintech, marketplaces and B2B platforms: call it from your onboarding flow through the API.
• AI agents: one call returns a structured, explainable screening result.
• Runs on the Apify platform: schedule runs, call it through the API, connect it to integrations, and get notified when a run fails.

What data can Sanctions & Company Check extract?

Field	Type	Description
query	string	The company name or VAT number you entered.
queryType	string	company for a name, vat for a VAT number.
riskLevel	string	hit (a list name scores 95 or more), review (at or above your threshold) or clear.
bestScore	integer	Similarity of the closest list name, 0-100. 100 means the same words.
bestMatchName	string	Primary name of the closest listed entity.
bestMatchList	string	The list the closest match is on.
matchCount	integer	Number of listed entities at or above the threshold (up to 10).
sanctionsMatches	array	Each possible match: list, listEntryId, name, matchedName (the name or alias that matched), nameWithheld, score, programs, entityType, listedOn and sourceUrl. On the US export control lists, a record of unspecified type whose name shows no sign of an organisation may be a person's: its names are withheld (nameWithheld true), and the list, programs, score and official link are still given.
screenedName	string	The name actually screened: your input, or the VIES-registered name for a VAT number.
leiCode	string	Legal Entity Identifier of the closest GLEIF record, when its name matches.
leiLegalName	string	Legal name on the LEI record.
leiStatus	string	Entity status on the LEI record (ACTIVE or INACTIVE).
leiRegistrationStatus	string	LEI registration status, for example ISSUED or LAPSED.
leiCountry	string	Country of the legal address on the LEI record (ISO code).
leiJurisdiction	string	Legal jurisdiction on the LEI record.
leiMatchScore	integer	Similarity between your name and the LEI record's legal name, 0-100.
vatNumber	string	The VAT number as checked, without spaces.
vatValid	boolean	Whether VIES reports the VAT number as valid. Empty when the member state's service was unavailable.
vatStatus	string	valid, invalid, or the VIES error code (for example ms_unavailable).
vatName	string	Registered trader name from VIES, where the member state publishes it.
vatAddress	string	Registered business address from VIES, for companies only: given when the registered name shows a company legal form (Ltd, GmbH, SA, BV and so on). Left empty for other names, which may be sole traders whose business address is their home.
listsChecked	array	Lists this result was screened against.
listsUnavailable	array	Lists that could not be downloaded in this run, so were not checked.
resultSignature	string	Fingerprint of the outcome. It changes when matches, LEI or VAT status change; monitoring mode uses it to report only changes.
scrapedAt	string	When this result was collected (UTC, ISO 8601).

How to use Sanctions & Company Check

1. Open the actor and select Try for free.
2. Fill in Company names, EU VAT numbers. The prefilled example works as a first test.
3. Set Maximum results to control how much data, and cost, a run produces.
4. Select Start and wait for the run to finish.
5. Download the results as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or fetch them through the API.

How much does it cost to use Sanctions & Company Check?

You pay per result: $20.00 per 1,000 results ($0.02 each), plus Apify's small start fee of $0.0001 per run. For example, 1,000 results cost about $20.00. You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options, and the actor stops cleanly when it is reached.

Subscribers to Apify's paid plans pay less per result: 10% off on Bronze, 20% off on Silver and 30% off on Gold and higher plans.

Get only new results

Turn on Only new results and schedule the actor (for example daily) to use it as a monitor: each run skips what earlier runs already returned, so you get a feed of new records and pay only for those. The first run returns everything that matches. The memory lives in your own Apify account; give runs the same Monitor name to share it when you change other inputs.

Use it from AI agents

AI agents can find and run Sanctions & Company Check as a tool through Apify's MCP server (mcp.apify.com) or the Apify API, and get the same structured results, billed per result. Without code, Apify's Zapier, Make and n8n integrations can start it and send each new result to a sheet, CRM or chat.

Input

See the Input tab for every option. The main fields:

Field	Type	Default	Description
companyNames	array	[]	Companies or organisations to check, one per line. Each gets one result. Individuals are not screened.
vatNumbers	array	[]	EU VAT numbers with their country prefix, for example IE6388047V. Each is validated in VIES, and the registered name, where the country publishes it, is screened too.
lists	array	["ofac", "un", "eu", "uk", "usexport"]	Which official lists to screen against. The US export control lists are the Commerce Department's Entity List, Denied Persons, Unverified and Military End User lists and the State Department's ITAR debarred and nonproliferation lists.
matchThreshold	integer	85	Lowest name similarity (70-100) reported as a possible match. Scores of 95 or more are reported as hits.
lookupLei	boolean	true	Find each company's Legal Entity Identifier record in GLEIF and add its status and country.
maxResults	integer	1000	Stop after this many results. Each result costs $0.02, so this also caps the cost of a run. Use 0 for no limit. Keep it low for a first test.
onlyNew	boolean	false	Monitoring mode: skip results this monitor returned in earlier runs, so a scheduled run returns, and bills, only what is new. The first run returns everything that matches.
monitorName	string	""	Runs with the same name share one memory of returned results, even if you change other inputs. Leave empty to keep a separate memory for each distinct input.

Example input:

{
  "companyNames": [
    "Bank Melli Iran",
    "Rosneft Oil Company",
    "Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps",
    "Siemens AG",
    "A.P. Moller - Maersk",
    "Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd."
  ],
  "vatNumbers": [
    "IE6388047V"
  ],
  "maxResults": 10
}

Output

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel. Example items:

[
  {
    "query": "Bank Melli Iran",
    "queryType": "company",
    "riskLevel": "hit",
    "bestScore": 100,
    "bestMatchName": "BANK MELLI IRAN",
    "bestMatchList": "OFAC SDN",
    "matchCount": 10,
    "sanctionsMatches": [
      {
        "list": "OFAC SDN",
        "listEntryId": "25578",
        "name": "BANK MELLI IRAN",
        "matchedName": "BANK MELLI IRAN",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 100,
        "programs": "IRAN, SDGT, IFSR",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": null,
        "sourceUrl": "https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=25578"
      },
      {
        "list": "EU consolidated financial sanctions list",
        "listEntryId": "EU.13719.21",
        "name": "Bank Melli",
        "matchedName": "Bank Melli Iran",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 100,
        "programs": "IRN",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": "2025-09-29",
        "sourceUrl": "https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/consolidated-list-of-persons-groups-and-entities-subject-to-eu-financial-sanctions"
      },
      {
        "list": "UK Sanctions List",
        "listEntryId": "INU0300",
        "name": "Bank Melli",
        "matchedName": "Bank Melli Iran",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 100,
        "programs": "The Iran (Sanctions) (Nuclear) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": "2025-09-29",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-sanctions-list"
      },
      {
        "list": "EU consolidated financial sanctions list",
        "listEntryId": "EU.13725.91",
        "name": "Bank Melli Iran ZAO",
        "matchedName": "Bank Melli Iran ZAO",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 100,
        "programs": "IRN",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": "2025-09-29",
        "sourceUrl": "https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/consolidated-list-of-persons-groups-and-entities-subject-to-eu-financial-sanctions"
      },
      {
        "list": "OFAC SDN",
        "listEntryId": "25419",
        "name": "MB BANK",
        "matchedName": "BANK MELLI IRAN ZAO",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 100,
        "programs": "SDGT, IFSR, RUSSIA-EO14024",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": null,
        "sourceUrl": "https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=25419"
      },
      {
        "list": "EU consolidated financial sanctions list",
        "listEntryId": "EU.13724.92",
        "name": "BMIIC",
        "matchedName": "Bank Melli Iran Investment Company",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 96,
        "programs": "IRN",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": "2025-09-29",
        "sourceUrl": "https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/consolidated-list-of-persons-groups-and-entities-subject-to-eu-financial-sanctions"
      },
      {
        "list": "OFAC SDN",
        "listEntryId": "25421",
        "name": "TOSE-E MELLI GROUP INVESTMENT COMPANY",
        "matchedName": "BANK MELLI IRAN INVESTMENT COMPANY",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 96,
        "programs": "SDGT, IFSR",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": null,
        "sourceUrl": "https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=25421"
      },
      {
        "list": "OFAC SDN",
        "listEntryId": "25420",
        "name": "MELLI BANK PLC",
        "matchedName": "MELLI BANK PLC",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 95,
        "programs": "SDGT, IFSR",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": null,
        "sourceUrl": "https://sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov/Details.aspx?id=25420"
      },
      {
        "list": "UK Sanctions List",
        "listEntryId": "INU0308",
        "name": "MELLI BANK PLC",
        "matchedName": "MELLI BANK PLC",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 95,
        "programs": "The Iran (Sanctions) (Nuclear) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": "2025-09-29",
        "sourceUrl": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-sanctions-list"
      },
      {
        "list": "EU consolidated financial sanctions list",
        "listEntryId": "EU.13729.87",
        "name": "Melli Bank plc",
        "matchedName": "Melli Bank plc",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 95,
        "programs": "IRN",
        "entityType": "entity",
        "listedOn": "2025-09-29",
        "sourceUrl": "https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/consolidated-list-of-persons-groups-and-entities-subject-to-eu-financial-sanctions"
      }
    ],
    "screenedName": "Bank Melli Iran",
    "leiCode": "391200Y7BOFEZOE3X484",
    "leiLegalName": "BANK MELLI IRAN",
    "leiStatus": "ACTIVE",
    "leiRegistrationStatus": "ISSUED",
    "leiCountry": "DE",
    "leiJurisdiction": "DE",
    "leiMatchScore": 100,
    "vatNumber": null,
    "vatValid": null,
    "vatStatus": null,
    "vatName": null,
    "vatAddress": null,
    "listsChecked": [
      "OFAC SDN and consolidated lists (US)",
      "UN Security Council consolidated list",
      "EU consolidated financial sanctions list",
      "UK Sanctions List",
      "US export control lists (Commerce and State)"
    ],
    "listsUnavailable": [],
    "resultSignature": "34d1541291e23d54",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-20T08:51:22+00:00"
  },
  {
    "query": "Rosneft Oil Company",
    "queryType": "company",
    "riskLevel": "hit",
    "bestScore": 100,
    "bestMatchName": "OPEN JOINT-STOCK COMPANY ROSNEFT OIL COMPANY",
    "bestMatchList": "OFAC SDN",
    "matchCount": 3,
    "sanctionsMatches": [
      {
        "list": "OFAC SDN",
        "listEntryId": "17022",
        "name": "OPEN JOINT-STOCK COMPANY ROSNEFT OIL COMPANY",
        "matchedName": "OPEN JOINT-STOCK COMPANY ROSNEFT OIL COMPANY",
        "nameWithheld": false,
        "score": 100,
        "programs": "UKRAINE-EO13662, RUSSIA-EO14024",
        "entityType":

Tips

• Start with the default threshold of 85. Raise it to cut noise from short or generic names, lower it to catch more spelling variants.
• Enter the full legal name where you can; legal forms such as Ltd, LLC or PJSC are ignored when matching.
• For monitoring, keep the same list of companies and turn on Only new results: the first run returns every company, later runs only the ones whose result changed.
• Check listsUnavailable: if an official file could not be downloaded, the result says so instead of pretending it was checked.
• Schedule the actor to keep a dataset fresh, and use the API or integrations to send new results where you need them.

FAQ, disclaimers, and support

Where does the data come from?

From OFAC, UN Security Council, EU Financial Sanctions Files, UK FCDO, US Consolidated Screening List, GLEIF and EU VIES (sanctionslistservice.ofac.treas.gov, wc2h-sls-prod-public-published.s3.us-gov-west-1.amazonaws.com, scsanctions.un.org, unsolprodfiles.blob.core.windows.net, webgate.ec.europa.eu, sanctionslist.fcdo.gov.uk, data.trade.gov, api.gleif.org, ec.europa.eu). Data is used under: OFAC and UN lists: public government data published for screening. EU Financial Sanctions Files and VIES: European Commission reuse policy (Decision 2011/833/EU). UK Sanctions List: Open Government Licence v3.0. US Consolidated Screening List: U.S. federal government data (public domain under 17 U.S.C. 105). GLEIF LEI data: CC0 1.0. See the source's terms: https://commission.europa.eu/legal-notice_en

Is it legal to use this data?

This actor only collects publicly available data from OFAC, UN Security Council, EU Financial Sanctions Files, UK FCDO, US Consolidated Screening List, GLEIF and EU VIES and does not collect personal data about private individuals. Check that your use complies with the source's terms and the laws that apply to you. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by OFAC, UN Security Council, EU Financial Sanctions Files, UK FCDO, US Consolidated Screening List, GLEIF and EU VIES.

Does a hit mean the company is sanctioned?

No. A hit means a listed entity has the same or nearly the same name. Names are shared, so a person must review every hit and review result against the official entry (use sourceUrl) before acting. This tool supports compliance decisions; it does not make them.

Are individuals screened?

No. Only entities (companies, organisations, vessels and aircraft) are screened, and individuals on the lists are skipped. The US export control lists do not always say whether a record is a company or a person; such a record is still screened, but when its name shows no sign of an organisation its names are withheld from the result (nameWithheld), so personal data is not returned.

How current are the lists?

Every run downloads the current official files from OFAC, the UN, the European Commission, the UK government (FCDO) and trade.gov, or reuses the copy this actor saved in your own Apify account within the last 6 hours (never shared with other users), so results reflect the lists as published at most 6 hours before the run.

Which UK list is used?

The UK Sanctions List published by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. OFSI's Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets closed on 28 January 2026, and the UK Sanctions List has been the only source of UK designations since then.

Which countries return a name for VAT numbers?

VIES returns the registered name and address only where the member state publishes them; some, such as Germany, do not. The address is returned for companies (names with a legal form such as Ltd, GmbH, SA or BV) and left out for other names, which may be sole traders whose business address is their home. The validity check works for all EU member states and Northern Ireland (XI).

What does a result cost?

One result per company or VAT number checked. In monitoring mode, unchanged companies are skipped and not charged.

Something is not working

Open an issue in the Issues tab with your run link and we will look at it. For programmatic access, see the API tab.