How do you check if a company is sanctioned?
Search the company's legal name and aliases on the official US, UK, EU and UN sanctions lists, then check who owns it. A company can be blocked without being listed: OFAC treats any entity owned 50% or more in aggregate by blocked persons as blocked itself, under guidance revised in 2014 (OFAC FAQ, 50 Percent Rule).
This guide is general information about public sources, not legal advice. Sanctions decisions with legal consequences belong with your compliance team or counsel.
Which sanctions lists should you check?
Check every list that applies to you, your bank and your counterparty, which for most cross-border work means all 4 below. Each list has its own official search, and none covers the others.
| List | Publisher | Where to search | Ownership test, as of October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDN and Non-SDN lists | US Treasury, OFAC | Sanctions List Search | 50% or more, aggregated across blocked persons |
| UK Sanctions List | UK government (FCDO and OFSI) | The UK Sanctions List | More than 50% of shares or votes, or control of the board |
| EU consolidated list | European Commission | EU Sanctions Map | More than 50% of proprietary rights, or control |
| UN Security Council Consolidated List | United Nations | UN SC Consolidated List | Set by each regime; applied through national law |
Step 1. Collect the company's identifiers
Write down the exact legal name, any former names and trading names, the country of incorporation, the registration number and the address. Names in non-Latin scripts need their common transliterations too. An LEI helps tie these together and shows the company's parent; see how to find a company's LEI.
Good identifiers cut false positives. A common name will return dozens of near matches, and the country and registration number are how you rule them out.
Step 2. Search OFAC Sanctions List Search
OFAC's free tool searches the SDN List and the Non-SDN Consolidated Sanctions List together. Its name field uses fuzzy logic, combining a phonetic algorithm with a character-similarity algorithm, and scores each result from 0 to 100, where 100 is an exact match (OFAC Sanctions List Search).
Leave the minimum score below 100 so you see spelling variants, then review each candidate against your identifiers. OFAC says the tool is meant for individual searches and should not be run continually by automated systems; for volume, download the lists in CSV or XML and load them into a screening system.
Step 3. Search the UK Sanctions List
Since 28 January 2026 the UK Sanctions List is the single source for UK designations. The OFSI Consolidated List of Asset Freeze Targets closed on that date and is no longer updated (GOV.UK, moving to a single list, 2026). Older guides that point to the OFSI list are out of date.
The UK list is published as a searchable page and as downloadable files, including CSV, XML and PDF. Newly designated persons carry only a Unique ID; historic OFSI Group IDs are kept for earlier designations.
Step 4. Search the EU and UN lists
The EU Sanctions Map sets out every EU sanctions regime and its legal acts, including regimes adopted by the UN Security Council and transposed at EU level (EU Sanctions Map). The Commission also publishes the consolidated list of persons subject to EU financial sanctions in PDF, CSV and XML through its sanctions resources (European Commission, sanctions resources). Only the Official Journal of the EU is legally authentic.
The UN Security Council Consolidated List includes all individuals and entities subject to measures imposed by the Security Council, split into individuals and entities (UN SC Consolidated List). The measures most often used are asset freezes, travel bans and arms embargoes.
Step 5. Check who owns and controls the company
A clean name search is only half the check. Under OFAC's rule, if one blocked person owns 25% of a company and another blocked person owns a further 25%, the company is blocked, and indirect stakes through other companies count (OFAC FAQ, 50 Percent Rule). OFAC's rule looks at ownership; control alone does not block an entity automatically, though OFAC may designate it separately.
The UK test differs. A company is owned or controlled by a designated person who holds more than 50% of its shares or voting rights, or can appoint or remove a majority of its board, and OFSI does not simply add together different designated persons' holdings unless they act jointly (UK financial sanctions general guidance). In 2026 the UK government asked for evidence on moving to an aggregation model and a "50% or more" test in line with the US and EU (GOV.UK call for evidence, 2026). Watch for a change.
The EU's Best Practices treat a company as owned by a listed person who holds more than 50% of its proprietary rights or a majority interest, and also look at control (Council of the EU, Best Practices, 2024). The Commission's Russia sanctions FAQ says aggregated minority stakes of listed persons should be considered (European Commission FAQ on Regulation 833/2014). Ownership research methods are set out in how to find who owns a company.
Step 6. Record the result and screen again
Save the date, the lists searched, the names and identifiers used, every candidate match and why you cleared or escalated it. Lists change often, so a check from last quarter proves little today. Rescreen before each payment or contract and when the company's owners change.
What do people get wrong when screening?
Compliance forums and AML guides return to the same failure: treating a name search as the whole check. Fuzzy matching reduces missed variants but cannot catch every alias, especially in non-Latin scripts, and a company can sit below a listed owner without appearing on any list. The second common gap is checking only OFAC when the deal also touches UK or EU persons, banks or currency.
Where does Tamarly Intelligence help?
Tamarly Intelligence is Tamarly's research platform on companies, funds, countries and markets, built from official filings and open data. Its law firms workflow screens clients against the official US (OFAC), UK, EU and UN sanctions lists, and its sources include GLEIF and UK Companies House, which help with the ownership step. Every result links to the official record, and when Tamarly does not cover a company it says so.
Tamarly uses free and open sources only, with no paid watchlist feeds, so it does not carry the politically exposed persons and adverse media databases that commercial screening vendors sell. Treat it as a research tool alongside your screening system of record, not a replacement for it.
Screen companies against the OFAC, UK, EU and UN lists, free for 7 days
Frequently asked questions
Is an OFAC search enough?
Only if US rules are the only ones that apply to you and your counterparties. The UK, EU and UN keep separate lists with different ownership tests, and OFAC's tool does not search them (OFAC Sanctions List Search). A name search also misses unlisted companies owned by sanctioned persons.
What is the OFAC 50 percent rule?
Any entity owned 50% or more, directly or indirectly, in aggregate by one or more blocked persons is itself treated as blocked, even if it is not on the SDN List (OFAC FAQ, 50 Percent Rule). If the blocked owners later divest below 50%, the entity is generally no longer blocked automatically.
Where is the OFSI consolidated list now?
It closed on 28 January 2026. UK designations are now published only in the UK Sanctions List, in formats including CSV, XML and PDF (GOV.UK, moving to a single list, 2026).
About the author. Melvine Manchau is the founder of Tamarly and author of the Tamarly Newsletter. He previously worked at PwC, Salesforce, BlackRock/eFront and Lazard.
About Tamarly Research. Tamarly Research is part of Tamarly Media, which holds no investment positions. Tamarly is a New York research house that studies how AI is changing regulated institutions.