The International Trade Blog Export Compliance
Automating Denied Party Screening for Your Exports
On: June 20, 2018 | By: David Noah | 4 min. read
When it comes to export compliance, there is no room for being “sort of compliant.” In the eyes of the law, you are either compliant—and doing everything in your power to follow the regulations issued by the various agencies that govern global trade compliance efforts—or you’re not.
Take checking denied party lists, for example. The U.S. government, as well as several other governments and organizations (like the United Nations and the European Union) publish lists of denied and restricted parties to whom you can't export without a license.
These restricted parties are individuals, businesses and other organizations that have been identified as engaging in activities related to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; are known to be involved in terrorism or drug trafficking; or have had their export privileges suspended.
While there is no requirement that companies check every export against these various restricted party lists, it is a violation of export regulations to export to anyone on the U.S. lists. That means even the smallest exporters should check all the parties in every export transaction against the various restricted party lists to avoid incurring penalties.
The problem with list-checking is that it’s not a simple, one-time process. Exporters should check every denied parties list every time they export.
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Denied Party Screenings Made Easy
Checking the 140+ lists one-by-one is time consuming and tedious. Rather than manually checking each of the individual lists, Shipping Solutions Professional software's Export Compliance Module allows you to quickly and easily check all the parties in your export transactions against a consolidated list of denied parties. Our denied party screening software screens against 149 U.S. agency lists, including obscure lists from the departments listed below.
The Major Lists
These lists are the obvious ones to check before exporting. They are the ones you likely know to check on your own.
- Denied Persons List
- Entity List
- Unverified List
- Nonproliferation Sanctions List
- Debarred Parties List
- Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations List
- Multiple Specially Designated Nationals lists
The Lesser-Known Lists
More importantly, we screen against 140 more U.S. lists that aren't as well known, aren't included on the government's consolidated list, but can get you in just as much trouble if you do business with people or organizations on these lists. These include additional lists from the Departments of Commerce, Defense, State, Treasury, and Homeland Security, as well as lists from the FBI and 46 other U.S. government agencies.
Non-U.S. Lists
And because the world is interconnected, our software also screens against Canadian, United Nations, European Union, and 26 additional country lists in which you might have established relationships that put you in their jurisdiction.
Don't think that could happen? Look at all the work U.S.-based companies had to do to stay compliant with the European Union’s new GDPR requirements. These non-U.S. lists include those from the United Nations, European Union, Canada and more than 25 other countries.
How Shipping Solutions Screens
Wondering how Shipping Solutions software actually does the screening? We’ve written extensively on this topic. Check out these two articles to learn the ins-and-outs:
- The Art of Using an Effective Restricted Party Screening Program for Your Exports
- How Does Restricted Party Screening Software Work?
When it comes to manually checking lists versus using software, leveraging denied party screening services and technology to expand the quality of your search is an easy choice. Hundreds of companies use Shipping Solutions to quickly and easily create accurate export documents while staying compliant with U.S. trade regulations.
See how Shipping Solutions export documentation and compliance software can help your company stay compliant. Click here to arrange a free online demo of the software.
About the Author: David Noah
David Noah is the founder and president of Shipping Solutions, the #1 selling export documentation software that develops and sells export documentation and compliance software targeted at U.S. companies that export. David is a frequent speaker on export documentation and compliance issues and has published several articles on the topic.