Sources and Matching

Sources

OFAC entries are read from SDN.CSV with alternate names from ALT.CSV (ALT.CSV). The EU file is the Financial Sanctions Files full XML export (direct file). The OFAC and Canada SEMA files carry no generation date; their date is the date the file was pulled. Cross-dataset entity identifiers come from OpenSanctions (index of 2026-10-06), licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Coverage

Current entries on each list as published through October 13, 2026: 6,665 entities fall under at least one of the eight program groups below. An entity enters the comparison when any one of its list entries falls in a program group; all of its entries on the five lists are then shown, including entries under other regimes.

The Canada column covers two lists: the Special Economic Measures Act consolidated autonomous list and the Criminal Code list of terrorist entities. Canada gives effect to UN Security Council listings through regulations under the United Nations Act; a UN-listed entity is therefore subject to Canadian measures even when the Canada column shows no entry.

Update Cadence

The comparison is rebuilt daily from fresh copies of the six official files. If a file cannot be fetched or looks truncated, the previous edition stays online until the next good pull.

Matching Entries Across Lists

Two entries are treated as the same subject only when a stated identifier ties them together. A shared name is never enough on its own. Rules, applied in this order:

1. UN reference number. EU and UK entries that cite a UN Security Council reference number (for example QDi.299) are tied to that UN entry, provided the names overlap. 4 entries that cite a UN number under an unrelated name are left unmatched (listed below).
2. IMO number. Vessels (and companies) that carry the same seven-digit IMO number.
3. Name plus date of birth. Persons whose exact name or alias matches after normalization (case, accents, punctuation and word order ignored) and whose dates of birth agree. Where one list gives only a year, agreement on the year is shown as "same name and birth year". If two entries on one list share the name and year, no match is made.
4. OpenSanctions canonical entity. OpenSanctions publishes one identifier for a subject it has found on several lists. An official entry is tied to that identifier only when an exact name or alias matches, the entity type agrees, dates of birth (if any) agree, and that OpenSanctions entity shares more of the entry's names than any other on that list (when only one name is shared, no other entity may share any name with the entry). Where one list holds two unrelated entries under one OpenSanctions identifier, that identifier is not used.

A guard refuses any match that would join two persons with conflicting dates of birth, vessels with different IMO numbers, or two entries of one list that share no name. Every entry card states its match basis. Of the entities shown, 5,182 rest on a single list entry. Matches by basis: UN reference 466; IMO 53; name plus date of birth 680; OpenSanctions identifier 1,095; hand-checked Canadian crosswalk 7 (an entity can have several).

Canadian Criminal Code crosswalk. The Criminal Code list carries no identifiers. A short hand-checked table ties a listed entity to an entity already in the comparison only where the official Canadian title or one of its listed aliases is an exact match for a name on the other list; each tie is labeled "Official name match (hand-checked)" and links the Public Safety Canada entry.

Entity pages list other entities that carry an identical name or alias but no shared identifier under "Same Name, No Shared Identifier". They are kept separate and may describe the same subject.

"No matched entry" means no entry on that list could be tied to the subject by these rules. A list can carry a subject under a spelling or identifier the rules cannot link, so the official list search remains the authority for any one name.

Program Groups

Assignments made from the list's own program or regime code are stated as such on each entity page. Assignments made from listing text (for terrorism regimes that cover many groups, such as OFAC SDGT, the EU terrorist list, the UK Counter-Terrorism regime and the Canadian Criminal Code list) are inference and are labeled "inferred from the listing text".

Definitions

• Person, entity, vessel, aircraft: the subject type stated by the list (OFAC "individual", "vessel", "aircraft"; UK "Individual", "Entity", "Ship"; EU "person" and "enterprise"). Entities with an IMO number on the EU, UN or Canada lists are shown as vessels.
• Listing date: the date the list states (UN "listed on", UK "date designated", EU designation date, Canada date of listing or Criminal Code listing date). The OFAC SDN file states no listing dates. Where an EU entry gives none, the earliest regulation cited on the entry is shown and labeled.
• Reference: the list's own identifier: OFAC entry number, UN reference number, EU reference number, UK Sanctions List unique ID, Canadian schedule and item, Criminal Code listed-entity number.

Download

sanctions-comparison.csv: one row per entity with its programs, a yes/no column per jurisdiction, list references and match basis.

UN Reference Conflicts Left Unmatched

• HTi.009 (KEMPES SANON) and UK entry HAI0012 (Dimitri Herard) cite HTI.009
• IRi.012 (AHMAD VAHID DASTJERDI) and UK entry INU0279 (AZIM AGHAJANI) cite IRI.012
• KPi.045 (KIM KYONG OK) and EU entry EU.4076.89 (Tong-Ho Kim) cite KPI.045
• LYe.006 (AVAX) and UK entry LIB0079 (IMO 9058713 ("AVAX")) cite LYE.006

Citation

Middle East Forum, Sanctions Comparator, accessed October 13, 2026, https://sanctions.meforum.org/.

Cross-dataset entity identifiers from OpenSanctions, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.