# Never ship to a sanctioned party by accident

> Screen people and companies against the US Consolidated Screening List and OFAC sanctions data, refreshed daily, with scored matches, list details and a stored record of every check.

Source: https://border.bot/screen
Last updated: 2026-10-21

Enter a person’s or company’s name, with their country if you have it. Screen searches the US Consolidated Screening List and the other lists loaded, and returns each possible match with its score, the list, the issuing agency and the listed party’s details.

[Try free screening](https://border.bot/tools/denied-party-screening) · [Read the API guide](https://border.bot/developers)

Reviewed by the border.bot editorial team on 2026-10-21 ([editorial policy](https://border.bot/about/editorial)).

## How Screen works

### 1. Names are never written the same way twice

Accents, punctuation and spacing are stripped before matching, and names are compared by their letter patterns rather than as exact strings. An exact name or a listed alias scores 1; anything below 0.7 is not returned.

**How a name is prepared for matching**

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Entered | Société Générale de Fret, S.A. |
| Compared as | societe generale de fret sa |
| Aliases | Every alias the list publishes, in every script it publishes |

### 2. Every possible match, explained

A match shows the name it matched, its score, the list and its kind (sanctions, export control or debarment), the issuing agency, programmes, addresses, identifiers, dates of birth and a link to the official entry. If you gave a country, it says whether it agrees.

**A possible match**

| Item | Detail | Value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Score | Close spelling of a listed alias | 0.86 |
| List | Specially Designated Nationals | Sanctions |
| Issuer | US Treasury, OFAC | US |
| Country | Different from the country you entered | No |

Illustrative. A possible match is a prompt to check the identifiers, not a finding.

### 3. Only listings in force

The lists are refreshed every day from the issuing agencies. A party whose listing has not started or has been lifted is never returned, so a removed entry doesn’t hold up a shipment.

**Searched in one check**

| Item | Detail | Value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Treasury | Office of Foreign Assets Control | 7 lists |
| Commerce | Bureau of Industry and Security | 4 lists |
| State | Nonproliferation and ITAR debarment | 2 lists |

The response names each dataset searched and the release it was read from.

### 4. Each check is kept as evidence

Every screening gets a check ID, the time, the query and the exact release of each list searched. If an auditor asks what you knew when you shipped, the answer is already on file.

**Part of the response**

```json
{
  "checkId": "chk_…",
  "matchCount": 0,
  "matches": [],
  "searched": [
    { "dataset": "us-csl", "seq": 412 }
  ],
  "screenedAt": "2026-10-19T09:14:03Z"
}
```

Illustrative response, shortened.

## Not knowing is not a defence

Selling to a party on a sanctions or export control list can bring penalties even when the sale was a mistake. Regulators expect exporters to check who they are dealing with, and to be able to show they did.

### Check at the order, not after it ships

Screening takes one API call and runs up to 60 a minute, fast enough to check every new customer, consignee or seller in the flow that creates them.

### Matches you can judge in a minute

A possible match comes with the listed party’s identifiers, addresses, dates of birth, programmes and a link to the official entry, so you can rule it in or out without searching agency websites.

### Lists that are never out of date

The lists refresh every day from the issuing agencies, and removed listings stop matching. You don’t maintain a spreadsheet or wait for a vendor’s update.

### A record for every check

Each screening is stored with the time, the query and the exact list releases searched. When you’re asked to prove you screened, you can.

## Thirteen US lists in one search

The US Consolidated Screening List brings together the export and sanctions lists of three departments. Screen searches all of them at once and says which one a match came from.

|  | Value | Detail |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Specially Designated Nationals | OFAC | Treasury |
| Entity List | BIS | Commerce |
| Denied Persons List | BIS | Commerce |
| Unverified List | BIS | Commerce |
| Military End User List | BIS | Commerce |
| Nonproliferation Sanctions | ISN | State |
| ITAR Debarred | DDTC | State |
| Foreign Sanctions Evaders | OFAC | Treasury |
| Sectoral Sanctions Identifications | OFAC | Treasury |
| Palestinian Legislative Council | OFAC | Treasury |
| Menu-Based Sanctions | OFAC | Treasury |
| Chinese Military-Industrial Complex | OFAC | Treasury |
| Correspondent Account or Payable-Through | OFAC | Treasury |

Source: [trade.gov: Consolidated Screening List](https://www.trade.gov/consolidated-screening-list)

## Who uses Screen

### Exporters and B2B sellers

Screen every new customer account and every ship-to address before the first order is accepted, and check the goods themselves with [Restrict](https://border.bot/restrict).

### Marketplaces

Screen sellers when they sign up and buyers on cross-border orders, and keep the record with the account.

### Freight forwarders and carriers

Screen the shipper, the consignee and any notify party on each booking before the goods move.

### Compliance teams

Run screening from the dashboard for one-off checks, and pull every past check through the API when an audit comes.

## How denied-party screening works

### What the lists are

Governments publish lists of people, companies, vessels and organisations that others may not deal with, or may only deal with under a licence. In the US, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control lists sanctioned parties, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security lists parties subject to export restrictions, and the State Department lists parties barred from defence trade. The [Consolidated Screening List](https://www.trade.gov/consolidated-screening-list) puts them in one place.

Ownership counts too. Under OFAC’s 50 Percent Rule, a company owned 50 percent or more by blocked persons is itself blocked, even if it isn’t named on a list.

### Why matching is fuzzy

Names are transliterated from other scripts, spelled differently on invoices, abbreviated or written with and without accents. Exact matching misses real hits; matching that is too loose buries you in false alarms. Screen compares names by their letter patterns after removing accents and punctuation, searches every published alias, and returns only matches that score 0.7 or more.

### What to do with a possible match

A possible match is a reason to look closer, not a finding. Compare the identifiers, addresses, nationality and dates of birth in the listing with what you know about your customer. If they clearly differ, record why and continue. If they agree, or you can’t tell, hold the transaction and get advice: dealing with a listed party can require a licence, and blocked property can bring reporting duties.

### Keep the record

Regulators look at whether you had a reasonable process and followed it. Keeping each check with the time, the name searched and the version of each list searched shows that you did, long after the order shipped.

## Three ways to screen a party

|  | Agency websites | Annual compliance tool | border.bot Screen |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Lists covered | One site at a time | Depends on the plan | US CSL and OFAC in one search |
| List freshness | As of your visit | Vendor’s update cycle | Refreshed daily |
| Spelling variations | Exact text search | Usually fuzzy | Fuzzy, every alias, accents removed |
| Record of the check | Screenshots | Usually | Every check, with list releases |
| In your order flow | No | Sometimes, with integration work | One API call or MCP tool |

## What you send, what you get back

**Request**

| Field | Example |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Northwind Freight Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Type | Entity |
| Your reference | order-10482 |

**Result**

| Field | Example |
| --- | --- |
| Matches | 0 |
| Searched | US Consolidated Screening List, OFAC |
| List releases | Recorded with the check |
| Check ID | chk_… |

Illustrative example with a fictional party.

|  |  |
| --- | --- |
| Input | A name, optionally a company, the party’s country, whether it is a person or an entity, and your own reference. |
| Output | Each match’s score, matched name, list, list kind, issuer and dataset, whether the country agrees, and the listed party’s aliases, programmes, addresses, identifiers, countries, dates of birth, remarks and source link. |
| Matching | Letter-pattern (trigram) matching on names stripped of accents and punctuation, against every alias. Exact names and aliases score 1; matches below 0.7 are not returned. |
| Lists | The US Consolidated Screening List and OFAC’s sanctions data, refreshed daily, plus any other national lists loaded. Every response names the datasets it searched. |
| Records | Every check is stored with its ID, time and list releases, and can be listed again later. |
| Rate | Up to 60 checks a minute per workspace. |

## With or without code

Run single checks and CSV uploads in the dashboard, call the REST API, or connect the MCP server to an AI assistant. All three use the same engine and save every result in the workspace.

| Method | Path | What it does |
| --- | --- | --- |
| POST | `/v1/screen` | Screen a person or company |
| GET | `/v1/screen/checks` | List past checks |

Example request body for `POST https://api.border.bot/v1/screen` (Bearer token from `/oauth2/token`):

```json
{
  "name": "Northwind Freight Ltd",
  "country": "GB",
  "type": "entity",
  "reference": "order-10482"
}
```

MCP tools at `https://mcp.border.bot/mcp`: `screen_party`. [Developer quickstart](https://border.bot/developers) · [Connect the MCP server](https://border.bot/mcp) · [API reference](https://border.bot/docs/api)

## Questions about Screen

### What is denied-party screening?

Checking the people and companies in a transaction (buyer, consignee, end user) against government lists of parties you may not trade with, or may only trade with under a licence. US exporters are expected to screen before they ship.

### Is a match a confirmed hit?

No. A match means the name is close to a listed name or alias. Compare the identifiers, addresses and dates of birth in the result with what you know about your customer before deciding. If it is a true match, hold the shipment and get advice.

### How often are the lists updated?

Every day, from the US Consolidated Screening List and OFAC’s own sanctions data. Each result names the release of each list it searched.

### Does it find names written differently?

Yes. Accents and punctuation are removed and names are matched on letter patterns, so small spelling differences still match. OFAC publishes aliases in the scripts it has, and those are searched too.

### Can I show an auditor what I checked?

Yes. Every check is stored with its ID, the time, the query and the exact list releases searched, and can be listed later from the API or the dashboard.

### Who needs to screen?

Anyone exporting, shipping or receiving payment across borders can be exposed. US persons and companies must not deal with blocked parties, and [export rules](https://border.bot/restrict) apply to goods wherever the seller is based. Screening each new customer and consignee is the usual baseline; you can [try it free](https://border.bot/tools/denied-party-screening).

### What is the OFAC 50 Percent Rule?

Companies owned 50 percent or more, directly or indirectly, by one or more blocked persons are treated as blocked even when they aren’t named on a list. Name screening finds listed parties; ownership needs checking separately for higher-risk customers.

### Can I screen in bulk?

Screen runs up to 60 checks a minute per workspace, which is enough to screen an existing customer list in a few minutes through the API.

### Does screening store my customers’ names?

Each check is stored in your workspace as the record of what you screened, so you can show it later. See the privacy policy for how long data is kept.

### What happens when a list changes?

New listings are searchable within a day of publication, and lifted listings stop matching. Re-screen existing customers periodically so that a party listed after you first checked them is caught.

## Further reading

- [Free denied-party screening](https://border.bot/tools/denied-party-screening)
- [Glossary of customs and trade terms](https://border.bot/glossary)
- [Security at border.bot](https://border.bot/security)
- [Connect the MCP server](https://border.bot/mcp)

## Sources

- [trade.gov: Consolidated Screening List](https://www.trade.gov/consolidated-screening-list)
- [OFAC Sanctions List Service](https://ofac.treasury.gov/sanctions-list-service)

Examples are illustrative unless a source is named. Rules and rates change, so run a check for a current answer.

## Also in border.bot

- [Classify](https://border.bot/classify): The tariff code for the destination, from a description, a product page or a photo.
- [Calculate](https://border.bot/calculate): Duty, import tax and fees, line by line, before the parcel ships.
- [Restrict](https://border.bot/restrict): Goods a country prohibits or restricts, and which agency reviews them.
- [Comply](https://border.bot/comply): What each agency needs at the border: the certificate and its citations, or the right disclaim.