FCDO publishes guidance on UK Sanctions List search tool
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has published guidance explaining the functions and operation of the UK Sanctions List search tool. The tool enables users to identify individuals, entities and specified ships designated under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018. The guidance makes it clear that the use of the tool does not remove the obligation to undertake due diligence or limit criminal or civil liability. It explains that the tool searches across multiple data fields using user entered terms and returns exact, partial and, where selected, fuzzy matches. Exact matches are ranked highest and relevance is determined by term frequency and inverse document frequency. When more than one term is entered, each term is searched independently. Partial matching applies only to the final term. Fuzzy search must be activated manually and identifies minor spelling variations according to term length. Users may search for exact phrases using quotation marks, although differing data formats may produce false negatives. Matching terms are highlighted within results. Filters may be applied by regime, date designated, designation source, designation type or sanctions imposed. Users are advised to conduct an unfiltered search first to reduce the risk of missing entries. Blank searches are not permitted, but all entries may be returned by searching ‘UK UN’ or by combining a filter with a corresponding search term. Each search generates a unique URL and results may change as the list is updated.