What is an SDN (Specially Designated National)?
Find a counterparty on the SDN List and the question stops being about risk. An SDN is a person, entity, vessel or aircraft named on the US Treasury list whose property within US jurisdiction is blocked, and with whom US persons are generally prohibited from dealing.
OFAC administers the list, which covers targets designated under country programmes such as Iran, North Korea and Russia as well as thematic programmes for terrorism, narcotics trafficking, cyber activity and human rights abuses. It is the most widely screened sanctions list in the world, because US dollar clearing gives it reach far beyond US borders. SDN status is not a criminal finding: it is an administrative designation, which is why removal runs through a petition to OFAC rather than an appeal to a court.
What this workflow covers
SCOPE- Match the primary name and every listed alias, then confirm against date of birth, passport, tax ID, IMO number or address.
- Read the programme tag. A code such as [SDGT] or [UKRAINE-EO13662] tells you which authority the designation sits under and which prohibitions follow.
- An unlisted company owned 50 percent or more, directly or indirectly, by one or more SDNs is itself blocked.
- The SDN List is not the whole of US sanctions. The SSI, CAPTA and NS-MBS registers impose narrower prohibitions, and Commerce runs separate export-control lists.
Compliance glossary
TERMS- Blocked property
- Property and interests in property of a designated person that come within US jurisdiction and must be frozen and reported.
- Programme tag
- The bracketed code on an SDN entry identifying the sanctions programme under which the target was designated, such as [SDGT].
Authoritative references
SOURCES- 01Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN) — Human Readable Lists
U.S. Department of the Treasury — OFAC
- 02Filing a Petition for Removal from an OFAC List
U.S. Department of the Treasury — OFAC
Frequently asked questions
Q&A- A counterparty came back as an SDN. What has to happen today?
- US persons block the property and interests in property in their possession or control and report the blocking to OFAC, generally within ten business days. Dealings are prohibited unless a general or specific licence covers them. Non-US firms with dollar exposure usually apply the same outcome rather than test the secondary consequences.
- Is the SDN List the same as OFAC's consolidated list?
- No, and loading one instead of the other is a real gap. The SDN List is the blocked-persons register. OFAC's Consolidated Sanctions List compiles the non-SDN registers, including SSI, CAPTA and NS-MBS, where the prohibitions are narrower than a full freeze.
- How does anyone get off the SDN List?
- By petitioning OFAC for removal with evidence that the basis for designation was wrong, that circumstances have changed, or that corrective steps were taken. OFAC reviews the petition and can ask for more information before it decides.
- We are not a US company. Does an SDN designation bind us?
- Legally it binds US persons and property within US jurisdiction. In practice the effect is global, because most banks route dollar payments through US correspondents and apply SDN blocking to those flows, so the designation reaches you through your bank rather than through US law.