Multi-Jurisdiction Sanctions Screening API

Base URL: https://api.techcompass.com.au — Screen names simultaneously against UN, EU, DFAT, FCDO, and OFAC sanctions lists in a single API call.

About this Dataset

The Multi-Jurisdiction Sanctions Screening API screens a name against five of the world's major sanctions lists in a single call, returning per-jurisdiction match results with unified confidence scoring. Instead of maintaining separate integrations with each sanctions authority, your application makes one authenticated request and receives a structured response covering all five regimes simultaneously.

This API is the appropriate choice for organisations with multi-jurisdictional exposure: Australian businesses subject to both DFAT and OFAC obligations, European entities with UN and FCDO requirements, or global financial institutions that need comprehensive cross-regime evidence for their AML/KYC audit trail.

Supported Jurisdictions

Why Multi-Jurisdiction Matters

Sanctions obligations are jurisdiction-specific: an Australian entity subject to the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 must screen against DFAT, but not necessarily OFAC. A European bank must screen against EU FSF and UN lists. A US financial institution is primarily bound by OFAC. However, many global entities are listed on multiple lists simultaneously — and a name may appear on one list but not another.

Screening against a single list creates compliance gaps. This API closes those gaps with a single call that returns evidence of screening across all five regimes, with per-jurisdiction list dates for audit documentation.

Authentication

All endpoints except /v1/global/sanctions/list-versions require an API key in the Authorization header:

Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>

Obtain a key at signup. The list-versions endpoint is public and returns no customer data.

Tiers

Each screen call counts as one API call regardless of how many jurisdictions are queried.

Selecting Jurisdictions

By default, all five jurisdictions are screened. Use the jurisdictions parameter to limit screening to specific lists:

GET /v1/global/sanctions/screen?name=Viktor+Bout&jurisdictions=UN,OFAC

This is useful when you have specific regulatory obligations and want to minimise response latency by excluding irrelevant lists.

Confidence Scores

Each match is assigned a confidence level based on the similarity between the query name and the entry name (and all its aliases):

The highest_confidence field at the top level of the response summarises the strongest match found across all jurisdictions, allowing quick automated triage without iterating the full results object.

The matching algorithm combines Jaro-Winkler similarity, token-set ratio matching, and alias expansion. Transliterated names (Arabic, Cyrillic, CJK) are matched against the romanised aliases stored in each list entry.

Audit Trail

Every screen request creates an immutable row in multisanctions_screens before the response is returned. The row records: the query name, entity type filter, jurisdictions screened, match count, highest confidence, API key ID, user ID, and UTC timestamp.

This pre-response write ensures the audit record exists even if the client disconnects. The data_lineage block in every response includes the request_id (a UUID) that uniquely identifies this screen in the audit log.

Error Reference

Endpoints

GET /v1/global/sanctions/screen

Screen a name against multiple sanctions lists simultaneously. Returns per-jurisdiction match results. Creates an immutable audit row before returning the response.

Example: screen a known UN/OFAC listed individual

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/global/sanctions/screen?name=Viktor+Bout&entity_type=individual" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>"

{
  "data": {
    "query_name": "Viktor Bout",
    "screened_at": "2026-06-08T07:00:00Z",
    "entity_type_filter": "individual",
    "jurisdictions_screened": ["UN", "EU", "DFAT", "FCDO", "OFAC"],
    "total_matches": 3,
    "results": {
      "UN": {
        "match_count": 1,
        "list_date": "2026-06-07",
        "matches": [
          {
            "uid": "UN-6908680",
            "name": "BOUT, Viktor Anatolievich",
            "confidence": "exact",
            "entity_type": "individual",
            "programs": ["CONSOLIDATED"]
          }
        ]
      },
      "EU": {
        "match_count": 0,
        "list_date": "2026-06-07",
        "matches": []
      },
      "DFAT": {
        "match_count": 0,
        "list_date": "2026-05-30",
        "matches": []
      },
      "FCDO": {
        "match_count": 0,
        "list_date": "2026-06-06",
        "matches": []
      },
      "OFAC": {
        "match_count": 1,
        "list_date": "2026-06-05",
        "matches": [
          {
            "uid": "OFAC-18157",
            "name": "BOUT, Viktor",
            "confidence": "high",
            "entity_type": "individual",
            "programs": ["SDGT"]
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  },
  "meta": {
    "request_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-...",
    "cached": false,
    "timestamp": "2026-06-08T07:00:00Z"
  },
  "data_lineage": {
    "source": "Multi-Jurisdiction Sanctions (UN / EU / DFAT / FCDO / OFAC)",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-06-08T07:00:00Z",
    "request_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-...",
    "license": "Various — see /v1/global/sanctions/list-versions for per-jurisdiction licensing",
    "jurisdictions_screened": ["UN", "EU", "DFAT", "FCDO", "OFAC"],
    "list_dates": {
      "UN": "2026-06-07",
      "EU": "2026-06-07",
      "DFAT": "2026-05-30",
      "FCDO": "2026-06-06",
      "OFAC": "2026-06-05"
    }
  }
}

Example: DFAT-only screen (Australian entity obligation)

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/global/sanctions/screen?name=Test+Entity&jurisdictions=DFAT" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey tc_live_<your_key>"

GET /v1/global/sanctions/list-versions

Returns the current list date and record count for each enabled jurisdiction. No authentication required. Use this to verify that the sanctions data is current before relying on it for compliance decisions.

curl "https://api.techcompass.com.au/v1/global/sanctions/list-versions"

{
  "jurisdictions": {
    "UN": {
      "list_date": "2026-06-19",
      "record_count": 1002,
      "source": "UN Security Council Consolidated List",
      "license": "UN Public Domain"
    },
    "EU": {
      "list_date": "2026-06-19",
      "record_count": 5994,
      "source": "EU Financial Sanctions Files",
      "license": "EU Open Data Licence"
    },
    "DFAT": {
      "list_date": null,
      "record_count": 0,
      "source": "DFAT Australia Consolidated Sanctions List",
      "license": "CC BY 4.0 — Commonwealth of Australia",
      "note": "Currently unavailable — DFAT source blocks cloud provider IPs. Fix in progress (static egress IP + DFAT allowlisting)."
    },
    "FCDO": {
      "list_date": "2026-06-19",
      "record_count": 5135,
      "source": "OFSI/FCDO UK Financial Sanctions Consolidated List",
      "license": "Open Government Licence v3.0"
    },
    "OFAC": {
      "list_date": "2026-06-19",
      "record_count": 19152,
      "source": "US Treasury OFAC SDN List",
      "license": "US Government Public Domain"
    }
  }
}

Use Cases

Global customer onboarding

Financial institutions onboarding customers with multi-jurisdictional presence need to screen against all relevant regimes before account opening. A single call to this API with entity_type=individual returns a consolidated result covering all five major sanctions programmes:

GET /v1/global/sanctions/screen?name=Full+Customer+Name&entity_type=individual

If total_matches == 0 across all jurisdictions, the screening passes. If total_matches > 0, the highest_confidence field indicates urgency: exact or high warrants immediate manual review; medium or low may be false positives depending on name commonality.

Multi-regime AML screening

AML/CTF frameworks often require ongoing monitoring of existing customers, not just onboarding screening. Because each screen call creates an immutable audit record, you can run periodic re-screens and demonstrate a continuous, dated screening programme. The data_lineage.list_dates object provides per-list currency evidence for audit documentation.

Australian AUSTRAC compliance

Australian reporting entities under the AML/CTF Act 2006 must screen customers against the DFAT Consolidated Sanctions List. Screen with jurisdictions=DFAT for a DFAT-specific check, or omit the parameter to screen all lists and get broader coverage at no additional cost:

GET /v1/global/sanctions/screen?name=Entity+Name&jurisdictions=DFAT,UN

UK financial sanctions

UK persons and regulated entities must comply with OFSI financial sanctions (FCDO list). Firms with both UK and US obligations need both FCDO and OFAC screens. This API covers both in a single call:

GET /v1/global/sanctions/screen?name=Counterparty+Name&jurisdictions=FCDO,OFAC

Vessel and aircraft screening

Commodity traders, shipping companies, and freight forwarders need to screen vessels and aircraft against sanctions lists to avoid facilitating prohibited transactions. Filter by entity_type=vessel or entity_type=aircraft:

GET /v1/global/sanctions/screen?name=NORD+SPIRIT&entity_type=vessel&jurisdictions=UN,OFAC,EU

Data Sources

UN Security Council Consolidated List

The UN Security Council Consolidated List is maintained by the UN 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da'esh) & Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee and other UN sanctions committees. It covers individuals and entities subject to asset freezes, travel bans, and arms embargoes under UN Security Council resolutions.

Source: scsanctions.un.org
Format: XML, updated daily
License: UN Public Domain — no restrictions on commercial use

EU Financial Sanctions Files

The European Commission maintains the Financial Sanctions Files (FSF) — the authoritative list of all persons, entities, and bodies subject to EU restrictive measures (financial sanctions). It covers sanctions regimes including Russia/Ukraine, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, Myanmar, and 35+ other country-specific and thematic regimes.

Source: European Commission FSF portal
Format: XML via registered download token
License: EU Open Data Licence — commercial use permitted

DFAT Australia Consolidated Sanctions List

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) maintains the Consolidated List of all autonomous sanctions targets under Australian law. Australian entities are legally prohibited from dealing with listed persons under the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 and associated regulations.

Source: dfat.gov.au
Format: XLSX
License: CC BY 4.0 Commonwealth of Australia — commercial redistribution permitted

FCDO / OFSI UK Financial Sanctions

The UK's Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury and administered by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), maintains the UK Financial Sanctions Consolidated List. This list is the primary UK sanctions reference post-Brexit, covering over 4,800 targets across Russia, Iran, North Korea, Belarus, and other regimes.

Source: HM Treasury / OFSI
Format: XML
License: Open Government Licence v3.0 — commercial redistribution permitted

OFAC US Treasury SDN List

The US Treasury OFAC SDN List is the primary US federal sanctions list. It covers over 19,152 entries (as of June 2026) and is updated multiple times per week. See the OFAC Screening API Reference for full OFAC-specific documentation.

License: US Government Public Domain — unrestricted commercial use