                OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL
                    U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT

        SPECIALLY DESIGNATED NATIONALS AND BLOCKED PERSONS
                      DATA SPECIFICATION 
                      
First Released: 12/06/2004
Updated:        09/25/2023

PLEASE NOTE IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE TECHNICAL STRUCTURE
OF THESE FILES ARE FEATURED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DOCUMENT

     OFAC is now publishing its list of Specially Designated Nationals in XML
and Comma delimited (CSV) format.  These digital publications as
transmitted by OFAC are designed as reference tools providing actual notice of
actions by OFAC with respect to Specially Designated Nationals and other
entities whose property is blocked, to assist the public in complying with the
various sanctions programs administered by OFAC.  The latest changes may appear
here prior to their publication in the Federal Register, and it is intended that
users rely on changes indicated in these documents that post-date the most
recent Federal Register publication with respect to a particular sanctions
program in the appendices to chapter V of Title 31, Code of Federal Regulations. 
Such changes reflect official actions of OFAC, and will be reflected as soon as
practicable in the Federal Register under the index heading "Foreign Assets
Control."  New Federal Register notices with regard to Specially Designated
Nationals or blocked entities may be published at any time.  Users are advised
to check the Federal Register and these electronic publications routinely for
additional names or other changes to the listings.  Entities and individuals on
the list are occasionally licensed by OFAC to transact business with U.S.
persons in anticipation of removal from the list or because of foreign policy
considerations in unique circumstances.  Licensing in anticipation of official
Federal Register publication of a notice of removal based on the unblocking of
an entity's or individual's property is reflected in these publications by
removal from the list.  Current information on licenses issued with regard to
Specially Designated Nationals and other blocked persons may be obtained or
verified by calling OFAC Licensing at (202) 622-2480.  

Technical Specification: 

Format *.ff consists of records separated by carriage returns, with fields 
within the records beginning at fixed locations.  

Format *.csv consistes of records seperated by carriage returns (ASCII character 
13), with fields (values) within records delimited by the "," (comma) symbol 
(ASCII character 44).   

Null values for all four  formats consist of "-0-" (ASCII characters 45, 48, 45).

     The Comma Seperated Values (.csv), and Fixed-Field (.ff) releases consist of three  ASCII text files--a main
file listing the name of the SDN and other  information unique to that entity
(sdn.*), a file of addresses (add.*),  and a file of alternate names (alt.*).
Addresses and alternate names are linked to particular SDNs using unique integer
values in a linking or primary key column. The integers used are assigned for
linking purposes only and do not represent an official reference to that entity.

     Releases of the database-format files are intended as a service to the user
community.  OFAC's SDN list is published in the Federal Register.  All of OFAC's
lists are drawn from the same underlying data and every effort has been made to
ensure consistency.  The Federal Register will govern should differences arise. 
Due to the nature, urgency, and sensitivity of the programs  which OFAC
administers and enforces, it may not always be possible to  provide advanced
notice to users of format changes to the database  structure.

     The files associated with each release are:

fixed field:     SDN.FF, ADD.FF, ALT.FF, SDN_COMMENTS.FF
Comma delimited: SDN.CSV, ADD.CSV, ALT.CSV, SDN COMMENTS.CSV
XML:  	         SDN.XML, SDN_ADVANCED.XML	

Misc: dat_spec.txt (this file), sdn.xsd (XML SDN schema), 
sdn_advanced.xsd (advanced XML SDN schema).

FORMAT SDN FIXED FIELD

Main table, text file name SDN.FF

Column                               Posi-
sequence Column name  Type     Size  tion  Description
-------- -----------  -------  ----  ----  ---------------------
1        ent_num      number   10    10    unique record
                                           identifier/unique
                                           listing identifier
2        SDN_Name     text     350   11    name of sdn
3        SDN_Type     text     12    361   type of SDN
4        Program      text     200   373   sanctions program name
5        Title        text     200   573   title of an individual
6        Call_Sign    text     8     773   vessel call sign
7        Vess_type    text     25    781   vessel type
8        Tonnage      text     14    806   vessel tonnage
9        GRT          text     8     820   gross registered
                                           tonnage
10       Vess_flag    text     40    828   vessel flag
11       Vess_owner   text     150   868   vessel owner
12       Remarks      text     1000  1018   remarks on SDN*
         END OF ROW                  2018

Address table, text file name ADD.FF

Column                               Posi-
sequence Column name  Type     Size  tion  Description
-------- -----------  -------  ----  ----  ---------------------
1        Ent_num      number   10    1     link to unique listing
2        Add_num      number   10    11    unique record
                                           identifier
3        Address      text     750   21    street address of SDN
4        City/				text     116   771   city, state/province, zip/postal code
         State/Province/
         Postal Code
5        Country      text     250   887   country of address
6        Add_remarks  text     200   1137  remarks on address
	 			 END OF ROW		    1337

Alternate identity table, text file name ALT.FF

Column                               Posi-
sequence Column name  Type     Size  tion  Description
-------- -----------  -------  ----  ----  ---------------------
1        ent_num      number   10    1     link to unique listing
2        alt_num      number   10    11    unique record
                                           identifier
3        alt_type     text     8     21    type of alternate
                                           identity
                                           (aka, fka, nka)
4        alt_name     text     350   29    alternate identity name
5        alt_remarks  text     200   379   remarks on alternate
                                           identity
         END OF ROW		     579

Record separator:     carriage return
null:                 -0-

FORMAT SDN CSV

Main table, text file name SDN.CSV

Column
sequence Column name  Type     Size  Description
-------- ------------ -------  ----  ---------------------
1        ent_num     number          unique record
                                     identifier/unique
                                     listing identifier
2        SDN_Name     text     350   name of SDN
3        SDN_Type     text     12    type of SDN
4        Program      text     200   sanctions program name
5        Title        text     200   title of an individual
6        Call_Sign    text     8     vessel call sign
7        Vess_type    text     25    vessel type
8        Tonnage      text     14    vessel tonnage
9        GRT          text     8     gross registered tonnage
10       Vess_flag    text     40    vessel flag
11       Vess_owner   text     150   vessel owner
12       Remarks      text     1000  remarks on SDN*

Address table, text file name ADD.CSV

Column
sequence Column name  Type     Size  Description
-------- ------------ -------  ----  ---------------------
1        Ent_num      number         link to unique listing
2        Add_num      number         unique record identifier
3        Address      text     750   street address of SDN
4        City/				text     116   city, state/province, zip/postal code
         State/Province/
         Postal Code
5        Country      text     250   country of address
6        Add_remarks  text     200   remarks on address

Alternate identity table, text file name ALT.CSV

Column
sequence Column name  Type     Size  Description
-------- ------------ -------  ----  ---------------------
1        ent_num      number         link to unique listing
2        alt_num      number         unique record identifier
3        alt_type     text     8     type of alternate identity
                                     (aka, fka, nka)
4        alt_name     text     350   alternate identity name
5        alt_remarks  text     200   remarks on alternate identity

Record separator:              carriage return
field (value) delimiter:       ,
text value quotes:             "
null:                          -0-

*SPILLOVER FILES:

OFAC has made certain changes to its SDN production system that now allow for 
an unlimited number of identifiers, features and linked to identifications to
be added to a record.  In the fixed-width and delimited files these data are 
stored in the remarks field.  Due to these changes, it is now possible for an
SDN record to exceed the 1000 character remarks limitation.  Data that exceeds
the specified field limit will be truncated to ensure that the current data
specification is followed.  However, in order to ensure that users of these
files continue to have access to truncated data, OFAC has created "spillover files."
These files will follow the same data specification of the files they are 
associated with.  However, there will be no upper limit on row length in these files.

The spillover file names are:

sdn_comments.csv
sdn_comments.ff


These files will be listed separately on the OFAC website's SDN page.  They will also be listed 
separately in the library/fac_dlim and /fac_delim folders of OFAC's FTP sites.  

Please visit the following tutorial on OFAC's website for more information on
creating a database using these files:

https://ofac.treasury.gov/sdn-list-data-formats-data-schemas/tutorial-on-the-use-of-list-related-legacy-flat-files

THE DISPOSITION OF ALIASES:

OFAC classifies SDN aliases as weak or strong.  In the data files
discussed in this document, weak aliases are not stored in the alt.* files.
Weak aliases are stored in the remarks field that trails every primary
SDN record in the SDN.* files.  For more information on weak aliases 
please review the following text taken from the frequently asked questions 
on OFAC's website.  

What are weak aliases (AKAs)?

A "weak AKA" is a term for a relatively broad or generic alias that
may generate a large volume of false hits.  Weak AKAs include
nicknames, noms-de-guerre, and unusually common acronyms.  OFAC
includes these AKAs because, based on information available to it, the
sanctions targets refer to themselves, or are referred to, by these
names.  As a result, these AKAs may be useful for identification
purposes, particularly in confirming a possible "hit" or "match"
triggered by other identifier information.  Realizing, however, the
large number of false hits that these names may generate, OFAC
qualitatively distinguishes them from other AKAs by designating them
as weak.  OFAC has instituted procedures that attempt to make this
qualitative review of aliases as objective as possible.  Before
issuing this updated guidance, OFAC conducted a review of all aliases
on the SDN list.  Each SDN alias was run through a computer program
that evaluated the potential of an alias to produce false positives in
an automated screening environment.  Names were evaluated using the
following criteria:

Character length (shorter strings were assumed to be less effective in
a screening environment than longer strings); 
The presence of numbers in an alias (digits 0-9); 
The presence of common words that are generally considered to
constitute a nickname (example: Ahmed the Tall); 
References in the alias to geographic locations (example: Ahmed the
Sudanese); 
The presence of very common prefixes in a name where the prefix was
one of only two strings in a name (example: Mr. Smith).
Aliases that met one or more of the above criteria were flagged for
human review.  OFAC subject matter experts then reviewed each of the
automated recommendations and made final decisions on the flagging of
each alias.*

OFAC intends to use these procedures to evaluate all new aliases
introduced to the SDN list. 

Where can I find weak aliases (AKAs)?
 
Weak AKAs appear differently depending on which file format of the SDN
List is utilized.
 
In the TXT and PDF versions of the SDN List, weak AKAs are
encapsulated in double-quotes within the AKA listing:
 
ALLANE, Hacene (a.k.a. ABDELHAY, al-Sheikh; a.k.a. AHCENE, Cheib;
a.k.a. "ABU AL-FOUTOUH"; a.k.a. "BOULAHIA"; a.k.a. "HASSAN THE OLD");
DOB 17 Jan 1941; POB El Menea, Algeria (individual) [SDGT]
 
This convention also is followed in the alphabetical listing published
in Appendix A to Chapter V of Title 31 of the Code of Federal
Regulations.  

In the FF, and CSV file formats, weak AKAs are listed in the
Remarks field (found at the end of the record) of the SDN file.  In
these formats, weak AKAs are bracketed by quotation marks.

8219@"ALLANE, Hacene"@"individual"@"SDGT"@-0- @-0- @-0- @-0- @-0- @-0-
@-0- @"DOB 17 Jan 1941; POB El Menea, Algeria; a.k.a. 'ABU
AL-FOUTOUH'; a.k.a. 'BOULAHIA'; a.k.a. 'HASSAN THE OLD'."

In the XML version of the SDN List, there is a Type element for each
AKA.  The Type can either be 'weak' or 'strong' (see the XML SDN
Schema (XSD file) at: 
http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/sanctions/SDN-List/Documents/sdn.xsd for more
information).  

Am I required to screen for weak aliases (AKAs)?
 
OFAC's regulations do not explicitly require any specific screening
regime.  Financial institutions and others must make screening choices
based on their circumstances and compliance approach.  As a general
matter, though, OFAC does not expect that persons will screen for weak
AKAs, but expects that such AKAs may be used to help determine whether
a "hit" arising from other information is accurate.  

Will I be penalized for processing an unauthorized transaction
involving a weak alias (AKA)?

A person who processes an unauthorized transaction involving an SDN
has violated U.S. law and may be subject to an enforcement action. 
Generally speaking, however, if (i) the only sanctions reference in
the transaction is a weak AKA, (ii) the person involved in the
processing had no other reason to know that the transaction involved
an SDN or was otherwise in violation of U.S. law, and (iii) the person
maintains a rigorous risk-based compliance program, OFAC will not
issue a civil penalty against an individual or entity for processing
such a transaction.