Sanctions Lists and Watchlists Explained

Reference pages for the sanctions lists and watchlists behind a screening result: who publishes each list, what it contains, how it is structured, and what a match against it means.

01OFAC SDN List: 19,326 entries, and the blocked parties it does not nameThe SDN List as a data file: 19,326 entries on 3 September 2026, three formats, no publication calendar, and a 50 percent rule no name search can see.
02OFAC Consolidated Sanctions List: 481 records that restrict rather than blockOFAC's non-SDN file: six lists, 481 records dated 27 July 2026, an empty FSE List, the download URLs, and why a hit means read the directive, not stop.
03A BIS Entity List hit is an export-licence question, not an asset freezeExport control, not sanctions: what an Entity List entry restricts, who decides it, where the file is, and the Affiliates Rule stayed to 9 November 2026.
04The EU consolidated sanctions list has 6,234 designations, not 43,851How the EU consolidated list is built, why 6,234 designations become 43,851 CSV rows, where the XML and CSV live, and what a hit obliges you to do.
05UK Sanctions List: the single source since the OFSI list closed on 28 January 2026Since 28 January 2026 the FCDO's UK Sanctions List is the only UK designation source: 6,334 designations, 58 fields, the richest ship schema, one CSV.
06The UN Security Council Consolidated List is one file, not one regimeThe UN Consolidated List: 1,011 names, committees that each set their own measures, reference prefixes that route a hit, 'na' fields, and where the XML is.
07Poland's MSWiA sanctions list: 554 listings in force, one XLSX, no APIPoland's national list under the Act of 13 April 2022: 437 persons, 131 entities, four measures, Cyrillic name forms, and an XLSX on gov.pl with no feed.
08An Interpol Red Notice is a request, not a sanction, and most are never publicA Red Notice is an arrest request on a national warrant, not a warrant itself: what the public extract holds, how diffusions differ, what a hit means.
09138 of the 1,240 records on the FBI Most Wanted feed are victims, not suspectsThe FBI wanted API: 1,240 records on 4 September 2026, ten poster classifications, 138 victims, 687 dates of birth, and how to poll it without re-flagging.
10Europe's Most Wanted, hosted by Europol: 47 profiles and no APIWho actually runs eumostwanted.eu (ENFAST, not Europol), what its 47 profiles hold, why solved cases stay on the site, and what a hit means in review.
11Not one of the 21 NCA Most Wanted profiles carries a date of birthThe NCA most wanted list on 4 September 2026: 21 public appeals, no dates of birth, no download, and how to record a match you cannot confirm or exclude.
12US Secret Service Most Wanted: 32 profiles, 27 dates of birth, Cyrillic aliasesThe Secret Service most wanted list: 32 cyber and financial-crime fugitives, dates of birth on 27, nationality on all 32, Cyrillic aliases to normalise.
13The US Consolidated Screening List is not OFAC's consolidated listThirteen US restricted-party lists in one daily file from Commerce, State and Treasury — what it holds, and the stale rows inside it.
14BIS Denied Persons List: 564 names, and denial orders that run to 2056The US export-privilege denial list: five columns, no identifiers, orders lasting decades, and why the aggregated copies are three times too big.
15The Unverified List is not an allegation: BIS just could not check the address222 parties BIS was unable to verify, the licence-exception ban and UVL statement they trigger, and how a company gets itself removed.
16Registre national des gels: 6,578 asset freezes, of which 79 are purely FrenchFrance's national asset-freeze register from DG Trésor: what gel des avoirs means, the JSON and XML feeds, and the small national layer inside it.
17Canada's consolidated list is the autonomous one, and the word matters5,690 SEMA and JVCFOA listings from Global Affairs Canada, what the UN Act and Criminal Code lists leave out, and the identifiers Canada omits.
18Australia's Consolidated List grades its aliases and names the measure that bites3,906 listings in one XLSX from the Australian Sanctions Office, with strong and weak aliases flagged and four measures marked per entry.
19SECO's whole list still contains 1,522 targets Switzerland has de-listedThe Swiss sanctions XML: 8,667 targets, 54,910 spelling variants, every programme traceable to the EU or UN, and de-listed records left in place.
20South Africa's TFS list is the UN list, republished within 24 hoursThe FIC targeted financial sanctions portal: 1,002 UN-derived listings, the freeze-without-delay duty, and reporting through goAML.
21New Zealand's sanctions register covers Russia only, and holds one passport numberThe MFAT Russia Sanctions Register: 1,925 designations, 210 ships, trade measures and an oil price cap in a single 21 MB workbook.
22The Dutch national terrorism list is 118 names in a 14 KB spreadsheetNationale sanctielijst terrorisme: who the Netherlands freezes on its own authority, why most listings date from 2015 to 2017, and what the file omits.
23Proscription is criminal law, not sanctions: the UK's 95 banned organisationsThe Home Office list of proscribed terrorist organisations: 81 international groups, 14 Northern Ireland groups, and why it freezes nothing.
24World Bank debarment: 620 of the 1,515 listings were sanctioned by another bankThe Listing of Ineligible Firms and Individuals, how cross-debarment spreads a sanction across five development banks, and where it stops.
25BKA Fahndungsliste: a prosecutor authorises each appeal, and half the entries are not fugitivesGermany's BKA wanted list held 136 appeals on 4 September 2026 — only 66 about a named wanted person. What the law requires before publication.
26Nationale Opsporingslijst: 17 names, because a Dutch prosecutor has to authorise every oneThe Dutch national wanted list carried 17 people on 4 September 2026. Why it is so short, who decides, and what an absence from it proves.
27Canada's 25 Most Wanted is not an RCMP list, and 10 of the 25 have already been arrestedThe RCMP publishes no national wanted register. Canada's 25 Most Wanted is run by the Bolo Program, and 10 of the 25 are already under arrest.
28DEA fugitives: five on the front page, 519 in the register, and a year of birth instead of a dateThe DEA publishes 519 fugitive records with no file to download and only a year of birth to match on. What that means for a false-positive review.
29US Marshals 15 Most Wanted: a list with a fixed size, and an entry wanted since 1973The USMS 15 Most Wanted holds exactly fifteen people and has produced 237 arrests since 1983. Why the identifiers are excellent and the coverage is not.
30SAPS wanted persons: 597 names, from murder to shoplifting, and not one date of birthSouth Africa publishes its outstanding warrants in full — 597 wanted people on 4 September 2026, with no date of birth on any record.