To check whether a supplier is sanctioned, search the company, its shareholders and its parent group on OpenSanctions, a free aggregator of the major lists, then confirm any hit on the issuing authority's own site. The lists most buyers need are the OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list, the Bureau of Industry and Security Entity List, Unverified List and Denied Persons List, the UFLPA Entity List maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, and the EU and UK consolidated lists. The check takes about five minutes and answers a yes-or-no question that no other source addresses.
Why This Matters
A sanctions or restricted-party hit changes the transaction from a commercial question to a legal one. Payments can be blocked, goods can be detained at the border, and the buyer rather than the supplier carries the consequence. Under the US Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, goods produced wholly or in part by an entity on the UFLPA Entity List have been presumed prohibited from import since 21 June 2022, so a listed sub-supplier can taint a finished product.
The lists are public and free, which makes this the cheapest check in supplier verification and the one with the most serious consequence when skipped.
How It Works
- Search the legal name, not the trading name. Take the registered name from the company register or, for Chinese companies, from the business licence, and search it on OpenSanctions. Search the English and local-language names.
- Search the owners and parents. Under OFAC's 50% rule, an entity majority-owned by a sanctioned party is treated as sanctioned even if it is not listed itself. A clean trading subsidiary with a listed parent is a problem. Shareholders appear in company registers; for Chinese companies, on gsxt.gov.cn.
- Confirm any hit at the source. Aggregators can match on similar names. Open the specific list on the issuing authority's site and compare identifiers: address, registration number, aliases.
- Know which list applies to your transaction. OFAC SDN blocks dealings generally. BIS lists restrict exports of US-origin technology, including drawings and tooling with controlled content. The UFLPA list blocks imports into the United States. EU and UK lists apply to entities in those jurisdictions.
- Record the check. Keep the date, the names searched and the result. If a shipment is later questioned, the record of screening is what you will be asked for.
For a routine check this is enough. For large or long-term commitments in regulated markets, paid screening services such as Dow Jones Risk & Compliance, Sayari or Kharon add ownership graphs several layers deep and continuous monitoring. The wider verification route is in how to verify a supplier online, and the Chinese case, where the relevant lists are longer, in verifying a Chinese supplier in 2026.
FAQ
Is OpenSanctions reliable enough on its own?
It is reliable enough to find a possible hit and to clear most suppliers. It aggregates the official lists and updates frequently. Confirm any match on the issuing authority's own page before acting, since name matching produces false positives, and use a paid service where the exposure justifies continuous monitoring.
What does the OFAC 50% rule mean for supplier checks?
An entity owned 50% or more, individually or in aggregate, by one or more sanctioned parties is itself treated as blocked, whether or not its name appears on a list. So screening must include shareholders and parents, not only the company on the quote.
How often should suppliers be re-screened?
At onboarding, before any large commitment, and on a schedule for active suppliers, quarterly being common. Lists change frequently; the UFLPA Entity List in particular has grown since 2022. A supplier cleared two years ago has not necessarily been cleared today.
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