Updated 24 October 2026
How sanctions, debarment and warning lists work
Who keeps each list, what a listing means and does not mean, how names are added and removed, and how to check current status on the official tools.
How sanctions work
- Sanctions lists compared across regimes
Who keeps each major sanctions list, the legal basis, where to search it and what the official pages say about its legal status.
- What a sanctions listing means
What a listing on a UN, US, EU or UK sanctions list does, who decides it, how owned companies are treated and what routes exist to ask for removal.
Lists by regime
- Canada and Australia sanctions lists
The laws behind Canadian and Australian sanctions, who keeps each consolidated list, what the lists cover and leave out, and the published penalties.
- The EU consolidated sanctions list
How EU sanctions listings are adopted, published, reviewed and challenged, who keeps the EU financial sanctions list and who enforces it.
- The UK Sanctions List explained
How the UK Sanctions List works, the legal test for designation, which UK bodies do what, OFSI figures for 2024 to 2025 and the routes to ask for removal.
- The US OFAC SDN list explained
What the US Specially Designated Nationals list is, the legal basis, the 50 Percent Rule, the non-SDN lists, the search tool and the OFAC removal route.
- UN Security Council sanctions lists
How UN Security Council sanctions lists work: the 15 regimes, the Consolidated List, the measures, how states apply them and the two UN delisting routes.
Checking and delisting
- Challenging EU and UK sanctions designations
How EU and UK sanctions listings are reviewed and challenged: Council observations, the General Court, UK requests under SAMLA section 23 and court review.
- False positives and name matching in sanctions screening
Why screening flags innocent names, how OFAC's search scores matches, the review steps OFAC suggests and official routes for people wrongly matched.
- How delisting from a sanctions list works
How names come off US, UN, EU, UK and Canadian sanctions lists: who decides, the grounds each regime accepts, published timelines and UN case figures.
- How to check sanctions status on official tools
The official search tools and files for the UN, US, EU, UK, Canadian and Australian sanctions lists, and how OFAC says to judge a possible match.
- OFAC delisting and administrative reconsideration
How OFAC delisting petitions work under 31 CFR 501.807: who can file, what to show, OFAC's target times, outcomes, refiling and State Department cases.
- UN delisting: the Ombudsperson and the Focal Point
How the UN Ombudsperson and Focal Point handle requests to leave UN Security Council sanctions lists, with phases, timelines and case figures.
Debarment and warning lists
- Regulator warning lists and clone firms
How regulator warning lists work in the UK, US and Singapore, what a clone firm is, what a listing means and the IOSCO I-SCAN database.
- Sanctions, debarment and PEP status compared
How a sanctions listing, a debarment and politically exposed person (PEP) status differ in legal effect, who decides, how long they last and how they end.
- World Bank and multilateral development bank debarment
How the World Bank Group sanctions firms and individuals, the sanction types, its ineligibility list and cross-debarment among development banks.