GLOSSARY
Sanctions Screening
Checking parties (buyers, suppliers, banks, vessels, intermediaries) and goods (dual-use, controlled) against OFAC, EU, UK, UN and national sanctions lists before transacting. Mandatory; failure carries criminal exposure.
Sanctions screening is the process of matching the parties and goods in a transaction against published sanctions lists — OFAC SDN, EU consolidated, UK OFSI, UN designated entities, plus sectoral controls like Russia/Belarus oil price caps or BIS Entity List for export controls. Screening typically happens at onboarding (KYB), at every payment, at every shipment, and on every list update.
Why it matters
Sanctions exposure is strict-liability: an OFAC violation carries criminal penalties up to $1M per violation and 20 years imprisonment, regardless of intent. AI-assisted screening is increasingly standard, but the accuracy bar is severe — false negatives are existential, and false positives lock up working capital. This is why screening sits at the top of every trade-AI guardrail stack.
Related terms
- KYB
- Entity List
- OFAC SDN
- Dual-use Goods