Search the UK Sanctions List

In one sentence: the UK Sanctions List is the official register of all individuals, entities and ships designated under UK sanctions law, published by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. It covers every UK sanctions regime, from country regimes such as Russia, Iran and North Korea to thematic regimes on cyber activity, global human rights and global anti-corruption.

Each entry answers three questions: who is designated, under which regime and with which measures. The measures range from an asset freeze or a travel ban to trade restrictions and director disqualification.

Identifying details such as dates of birth, nationalities, aliases and addresses help you tell a true match from a namesake. A name match is a lead, not a verdict.

First, the structure: each entry covers one designated person or specified ship under one sanctions regime. Someone designated under several regimes therefore has several entries, each with its own Unique ID. The main fields:

• Identifiers: the Unique ID (for example RUS0270), the OFSI Group ID carried over for financial sanctions targets listed before 28 January 2026, and the UN reference number for UN listings.
• Names: the primary name, spelling variations and aliases, plus names in non-Latin script such as Cyrillic or Arabic.
• Individuals: date of birth (sometimes only partly known), town and country of birth, nationality, passport and national ID numbers, position and addresses.
• Entities: type of entity, business registration numbers, parent company, subsidiaries, addresses and contact details.
• Ships: the IMO number, such as 9329760 for the tanker Eagle S, plus owners or operators, current and previous flags, ship type, tonnage and year built. The IMO number stays the same when a ship is renamed or reflagged.
• The designation: the regime, whether it is a UK designation, a UN designation or both, and the sanctions imposed, such as an asset freeze, travel ban or director disqualification. It also records the UK statement of reasons, the date designated and the date last updated.

The FCDO publishes the list in seven formats: CSV, XML, ODS, ODT, HTML, TXT and PDF, with identical data in each. It also runs an online search tool with optional fuzzy matching and sends email alerts when the list changes.

A warning on that tool: using it does not limit your liability or reduce your obligation to carry out due diligence. The tool finds names, the responsibility stays with you. Read what effective sanctions screening involves.

Designations are a ministerial decision, in most cases the Foreign Secretary’s. The FCDO publishes them on the UK Sanctions List. Enforcement is split by type of measure:

• OFSI, part of HM Treasury, implements and enforces financial sanctions such as asset freezes.
• OTSI, the Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation, leads civil enforcement of sanctioned services and of trade in sanctioned goods and technology outside the UK that involves a UK person.
• HMRC, as the UK customs authority, enforces trade sanctions on goods crossing the UK border and on strategic goods and technology. Together with the National Crime Agency, it also investigates criminal breaches.
• The Department for Transport (transport sanctions), the Home Office (travel bans), the Insolvency Service (director disqualification) and Ofcom (internet services) enforce the other measures.

Several enforcers, one list: whichever authority enforces a measure, one check against the UK Sanctions List finds the designation behind it. One exception follows in the Russia section: a separate list of 11 entities.

UK sanctions apply to everyone in the UK and to all UK nationals and UK companies, wherever they do business. The core prohibition: you must not make funds or economic resources available to a designated person, directly or indirectly. Any business with customers, suppliers or counterparties needs a UK sanctions check. On top of that, the Financial Conduct Authority expects the firms it regulates to have effective sanctions systems and controls.

“Relevant firms” carry additional duties. They include banks, payment and e-money institutions, cryptoasset businesses, insurers, accountants, legal professionals and estate agents. They must report to OFSI as soon as practicable. The trigger: in the course of their business, they know or have reasonable cause to suspect that someone is a designated person or has breached financial sanctions.

The report must also state any funds or economic resources they hold for a designated customer. For relevant firms, reasonable suspicion already triggers the report.

What the list does not show: an asset freeze also covers entities that a designated person owns or controls, for example by holding more than 50% of the shares or voting rights. These companies are frozen without appearing on the list by name.

The consequence: a UK sanctions check should cover beneficial owners and directors, not just the customer entity. More on that: enhanced due diligence. A clean company name proves little if its owner is listed.

Start with the scale: Russia is by far the largest UK sanctions regime. On 2 October 2026, 3,499 of the 6,370 entries on the UK Sanctions List were designated under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019: 1,951 individuals, 915 entities and 633 ships.

The regulations combine several types of sanctions:

• Financial sanctions: asset freezes, plus restrictions on investment, securities, loans and trust services.
• Trade sanctions: bans on exporting military, dual-use and luxury goods to Russia, on importing Russian oil, gold, diamonds, iron and steel, and on providing professional services such as accounting, consulting and legal advice.
• Transport, immigration and director disqualification sanctions: port bans for Russian and specified ships, travel bans, and bans on acting as a company director.

The pressure keeps rising. In October 2025, the UK designated Russia’s largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. In February 2026, it added the pipeline operator Transneft, taking the total under the Russia regime past 3,000.

Then the shadow fleet: since March 2026, UK armed forces and law enforcement can board sanctioned vessels in UK waters. By 1 October 2026, the UK had sanctioned nearly 600 tankers of Russia’s shadow fleet.

What does this mean for your screening? Two points. First, the FCDO and OFSI publish a separate list of 11 Russian entities subject to restrictions on securities, loans and credit. These restrictions also extend to entities they own outside the UK.

This list is not part of the UK Sanctions List. Most of the 11, including Sberbank, VTB Bank and Gazprombank, are also designated with an asset freeze on the UK Sanctions List. OPK Oboronprom, however, appears only on the separate list. Screen against the main list alone, and you miss it.

Second, the list moves fast, as the designations since October 2025 show. A customer who was clean at onboarding can be listed next month, so keep your customer base under ongoing monitoring. A clean result is only as current as the list it was checked against.

How expensive can a breach get?

• Civil penalties: OFSI can impose up to £1 million or 50% of the value of the breach, whichever is higher.
• Strict liability: since June 2022, OFSI no longer has to prove that a firm knew or suspected it was dealing with a designated person.
• Criminal penalties: breaches of financial sanctions carry up to 7 years in prison.
• Voluntary disclosure: disclosing a breach promptly can reduce the civil penalty significantly.

The lesson: screen before you deal, and disclose a breach before OFSI finds it.