Sanctions Abbreviations

UN Security Council is an organ of the UN responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. The UN sanctions are imposed by the UN Security Council.

Asset freezing is a type of financial sanctions and refers to the action of blocking the funds, bank accounts and other financial assets of persons listed in sanction lists

Customer due diligence (CDD) is an ongoing process through which the identity of the customers and associated risks with them will be examined.

enhanced due diligence (EDD) is an advanced risk assessment when the customers are recognized as high-risk customers

 An “exception” describes a situation where under normal circumstances, adopted sanctions measures would prohibit the desired action. Exceptions are usually granted by the competent authority of the applicable sanctions program in the form of a (specific) license.

See # License
A general license authorizes a specific type of transaction that would otherwise be prohibited.

sanctions aimed to be applied and enforced beyond the sanction imposer's territory are Extraterritorial.

False negative is when the automated solution does not recognize a true hit in the process of screening.

 False positive is when the automated solution recognizes a match, but the match is not relevant (e.g. hit on “Havana” in Cuba on the address “Havanaroad, London”) or the match is not the search term due to fuzzy logic (e.g. Heavan Road, London where Havana was searched for).

Fuzzy logic is a functionality based on different algorithms, such as Damerau-Levenshtein Distance or Hammerstein, used in screening solutions to assess the similarity between names by e.g. evaluating character, string matching, as well as phonetic resemblance, between two strings (names, addresses etc.).

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a pact signed in 2015 between Iran and several governments including the EU.

Know Your Customer (KYC) is an obligation to document and verify the identity of new customers which should be reviewed in specific intervals.

See # Exception and Exemption
Authorizations by the national competent authorities permitting particular activities that would be otherwise prohibited under sanctions.

See # License
A specific license is an authorization granted to a particular person or entity, permitting a specific transaction that would otherwise be prohibited.

To combat the circumvention of EU export bans through the re-exportation of goods from third countries to Russia, EU operators must include "no re-export" clauses in their contracts with importers in third countries in specific circumstances.

The trade or financial transactions and other dealings in which U.S. persons may not engage unless authorized by OFAC or expressly exempted by statute

Sanction lists cover designated individuals and entities under sanction regimes.

Sanctions regimes are a set of regulations imposed by a government or international organization against specific governments or groups.

Sanctions compliance involves ensuring that a business's activities do not violate applicable sanctions laws and regulations.

SDNs are individuals or entities that are blocked pursuant to U.S. sanctions regulations.

OFSI is an entity responsible for ensuring that financial sanctions are properly understood, implemented and enforced in the UK.

OFSI is an entity responsible for ensuring that trade sanctions are properly understood, implemented and enforced in the UK.

OFAC is a US Department responsible for administering and enforcing economic and trade sanctions in the US.

An individual or individuals
who ultimately owns or controls a company.

U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens regardless of where they are located, all persons and entities within the United States, all U.S. incorporated entities and their foreign branches.