As part of its law enforcement efforts, OFAC publishes a list of individuals and companies that are owned or controlled by sanctioned countries or that act on their behalf or at their direction. It also includes on its lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists, narcotics traffickers, and persons engaged in money laundering and illicit enrichment, designated under programs that are not country-specific. Taken together, these individuals and companies are referred to as "Specially Designated Nationals" or "SDNs." Their assets are blocked and, in general, U.S. persons are prohibited from dealing with them.

The List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons ("SDN List") and all other sanctions lists administered by OFAC, including the Foreign Sanctions Evaders List, the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List, the List of Foreign Financial Institutions Subject to Correspondent Account or Payable-Through Account Sanctions, and the Capital Recoveries List, are all accessible through the Sanctions List Search tool. Because of the number of lists now included in this tool, users are strongly encouraged to pay close attention to the program codes associated with each returned record. These program codes indicate how a true match to a returned entry should be treated.

The Sanctions List Search tool uses approximate string matching to identify potential matches between word or character strings entered into the search and any name or name component as it appears on the SDN List and/or the various other sanctions lists. Sanctions List Search includes a slider bar that may be used to set a threshold (that is, a confidence level) for the closeness of any potential match returned as a result of a user's search. The tool will detect certain misspellings or other errors in the entered text and will return near or proximate matches, based on the confidence level set by the user via the slider bar. OFAC does not provide recommendations as to the appropriateness of any particular confidence level.

Sanctions List Search is one tool offered to assist users in using the SDN List and/or the various other sanctions lists; its use is not a substitute for undertaking appropriate due diligence. The use of Sanctions List Search does not limit any criminal or civil liability for any act undertaken as a result of, or in reliance on, such use.