Sanctions & Tariff Lookup
Sanctions screening guides
Last updated · Starry Night
Plain-English guides for small exporters, importers, marketplaces and finance teams who screen customers, suppliers and counterparties against OFAC and other restricted party lists. Each one links to what OFAC and the regulations actually say.
- How to check a name against the OFAC sanctions list
A practical walkthrough of OFAC screening: which search to use, how fuzzy matching works, checking a possible match, and what to keep on file. - What to do with a possible OFAC match
OFAC's six steps for a screening hit: check the list, compare identifiers, decide, block or reject, report within 10 business days, keep records. - The OFAC 50 Percent Rule, explained
Why a company not on the SDN List can still be blocked: OFAC's 50 Percent Rule on aggregate ownership by blocked persons, and what a name screen misses. - SDN List vs the Consolidated Screening List: which to check
The SDN List is one of many U.S. restricted party lists. What the trade.gov Consolidated Screening List adds (Entity List, Denied Persons), plus UN, UK and EU lists. - Sanctions screening records: what to keep and for how long
OFAC record keeping in plain English: the 10-year rule in 31 CFR 501.601, what a screening record should show, and how to document cleared possible matches.
Ready to screen a list?
The screening record page screens up to 500 customers, suppliers or vessels at once against the U.S. Consolidated Screening List (OFAC, BIS and State Department lists), the UN Security Council Consolidated List, the UK Sanctions List and the EU consolidated financial sanctions list, with name matching that handles word order, transliteration variants and small typos, and builds a dated PDF record of the run. On-screen results and a PDF marked PREVIEW are free; a $29 one-time unlock removes the watermark for 24 hours. Names are not stored.
These guides explain public rules and OFAC guidance in plain English. They are not legal advice; for a decision about a specific party or transaction, talk to sanctions counsel or contact OFAC. Sanctions & Tariff Lookup is published by Starry Night and is not affiliated with OFAC, the Department of Commerce, the State Department, the UN, the UK government or the European Commission.