The UK’s sanctions regime plays a vital role in protecting national security. At the centre of this framework is the UK Sanctions List, a public record of all people, organisations, and vessels designated under UK sanctions law.
To help users search this information quickly and accurately, the UK Government provides the UK Sanctions List Search Tool. This is An interpretation of the official GOV.UK user guide. For full official guidance, the UK Government provides ongoing updates and supplementary material through GOV.UK here.
- What the Search Tool Is Designed to Do
The search tool enables users to find:
- Individuals subject to sanctions
- Entities subject to sanctions
- Specified vessels
- Key details such as aliases, addresses, identification numbers, and regimes
This tool supports due diligence by helping users understand whether a subject may be designated.
However, the government emphasises that:
- The tool does not replace full compliance work
- A “no results” outcome does not guarantee that sanctions do not apply
- Users remain responsible for their own sanctions due diligence and legal obligations
- What You Can Search For
The tool supports a wide variety of inputs, giving flexibility for real‑world scenarios.
You can search using:
- Full names
- Partial names
- Company names
- Aliases
- Addresses
- Nationality information
- Passport or identification numbers
- Ship names
- Fragments of text
- Non‑Latin characters (e.g. Cyrillic, Arabic, Mandarin)
The search is case‑insensitive—capital letters make no difference.
- How Search Terms Work
Each piece of text separated by a space or punctuation mark is treated as an individual search term.
Example (updated as requested):
If you enter:
Jonathan Alan Smith
The tool interprets this as three separate search terms:
- Jonathan
- Alan
- Smith
These are compared individually and in combination with data in the UK Sanctions List. Using more search terms makes the search more specific.
- Types of Matches the Tool Returns
The search tool uses three matching methods to surface relevant results.
4.1 Exact Matches
An exact match occurs when your search term appears exactly as written in the sanctions dataset.
Characteristics:
- Exact matches appear first in the results
- Each search term is checked separately
- These are often the most relevant results
4.2 Partial Matches
A partial match occurs when your search term matches the beginning of a word in the dataset.
For example, searching “Flet” could return “Fletcher”.
Partial matches are best triggered by using a single search term. Using multiple terms narrows the search too tightly.
4.3 Fuzzy Matches
Fuzzy matching finds results that are similar but not identical to your search term. This helps when:
- Spellings differ
- Names are transliterated from other alphabets
- Letters are swapped or omitted
- There are typing variations
For example: “Stevensen” might return “Stevenson” via fuzzy logic.
Fuzzy matches appear after exact and partial matches.
- What Appears in Search Results
The results list displays relevant information for each matched person, entity, or vessel.
This may include:
- Full name or organisation name
- Known aliases
- Sanctions regime (e.g., Russia, Iran, Cyber, Counter‑Terrorism)
- Date of designation
- Nationality or location details
- Identification numbers
- Addresses
- Status (active, delisted, etc.)
Matched terms are highlighted so you can see why a result was returned.
- Refining Results with Filters
After an initial search, you can apply multi‑select filters to narrow the list.
Filter categories may include:
- Regime
- Designation type (individual, entity, ship)
- Status
- Nationality
- Other attributes relevant to the sanctions data
Filters allow you to focus on specific areas, such as only active individuals under a certain regime.
- Searching Exact Phrases
You can also search for entire multi‑word phrases. This is helpful when you know an exact organisational or vessel name.
For example:
“Johnson Holdings Limited”
This tells the tool to look for that specific sequence of words.
- Shareable Search URLs
Every search produces a unique URL that captures:
- Your search terms
- Your filters
- Your results
You can:
- Bookmark it
- Save it for reference
- Share it with colleagues
- Use it in screening records or audit logs
This makes repeated compliance checks far more efficient.
- What the Tool Does Not Do
The user guide stresses several limitations:
- The tool does not guarantee sanctions compliance
- A clear search result does not confirm the person is free of sanctions risk
- You still need to consider ownership and control rules (even if the entity itself is not listed)
- The tool does not replace legal or regulatory advice
- The user remains legally responsible for conducting appropriate checks
In other words, the tool is a helpful screening aid, but it is not sufficient on its own.
- Best‑Practice Tips from the Guidance
To get the most reliable results:
- Start broad if spelling or transliteration is uncertain
- Use single terms to reveal partial and fuzzy matches
- Add more terms later to refine results
- Review highlighted text to understand why entries were returned
- Apply filters to narrow large result sets
- Use the shareable URL for record‑keeping
- Re‑run searches if new information becomes available
- Always apply broader due diligence alongside the search tool