Lexolution Sanctions Lists

Purpose of this Handout

This handout explains how to set up and use the automated or manual download of sanctions lists and provides background information on the subject.

Background Information

Every law firm must make reasonable efforts to ensure that it does not take on clients—whether individuals or organizations—who appear on sanctions lists.
As a rule, law firms must at least check the lists relevant to their office location, which is usually the consolidated EU sanctions list. However, it is also recommended to consider the locations of your clients. For example, if you have US clients, you should also check the US sanctions lists to avoid compliance conflicts between your firm and your clients.
Sanctions lists are routinely checked as collision lists in the conflict check (KFC).
Potential conflicts from these lists are displayed in the results view along with other potential conflicts (e.g., Lexolution contacts).

The following sanctions lists can be downloaded: - Consolidated EU Sanctions List (default) - Consolidated UN Sanctions List - Consolidated US Sanctions List - Consolidated UK Sanctions List - Consolidated CH (Switzerland) Sanctions List

Sanctions Lists

EU Sanctions List

The EU sanctions list can only be downloaded with an EU account. After logging in with this EU account, you need to generate a URL with a token for the download.

Illustration: Available download options for the EU sanctions list. The required web address with the token is shown at the bottom (red arrow).

The generated URL for format version 1.1 "XML (Based on XSD)" must be entered in the following parameter in the server configuration.

<add key="EuSanctionsListAddress" value=""></add>

🛈 Note

Since Lexolution version 6.0, Lexolution offers the option to automatically download the consolidated EU sanctions list daily. This ensures that KFC checks always use the most up-to-date version of the EU sanctions list. To enable the automated download, your firm must register once on the European Commission's website.

Detailed setup instructions are provided in Chapter 3. The automatic download of the EU sanctions list is available by default in Lexolution starting with version 6.0.

US Sanctions Lists

The following lists are available: - Consolidated List (CONSOLIDATED.XML, XML version of the Consolidated Sanctions List) - SDN List | Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN.XML, XML version of the SDN List)

Source: https://sanctionslist.ofac.treas.gov/Home/

This sanctions list download must be enabled by importing a key.

UN Sanctions Lists

The following list is available: - Consolidated UN Sanctions List (https://scsanctions.un.org/resources/xml/en/consolidated.xml)

This sanctions list download must be enabled by importing a key.

UK Sanctions List

The following list is available: - UK Sanctions List (https://sanctionslist.fcdo.gov.uk/docs/UK-Sanctions-List.xml)

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-uk-sanctions-list

This sanctions list download must be enabled by importing a key.

CH Sanctions List

The following list is available

• CH Sanctions List (https://www.sesam.search.admin.ch/sesam-searchweb/pages/downloadXmlGesamtliste.xhtml?lang=de&action=downloadXmlGesamtlisteAction)

This sanctions list download must be enabled by importing a key.

Additional Sanctions Lists

The following additional sanctions lists are available for automated download: - Consolidated UN Sanctions List - Consolidated US Sanctions List () - US SDN Sanctions List - Consolidated UK Sanctions List - Consolidated CH Sanctions List

Adding these sanctions lists for download must be activated by STP GmbH.
By default, only the EU sanctions list is downloaded.
If you are interested, please contact STP GmbH support.

Mappings and Assignments

All entries from all sanctions lists have been mapped to ensure that the information needed for KFC is correctly transferred from the XMLs of the sanctions lists into the collision lists in Lexolution.
The XML structures of the sanctions lists vary greatly.
However, in all cases, the names and first names of individuals and organizations are mapped.
Aliases, spelling variations, and synonyms are taken into account. Duplicate entries are consolidated to avoid overloading the results view in Lexolution.
In addition to name and first name, a technical identifier and, in many cases, a brief description are also included to help quickly identify a potential conflict in the results view.

Example:
List entry with description and assignment in the EU sanctions list (collision list in Lexolution)

Example:
Technical identifier in the EU sanctions list (PDF format from the internet)

Download

Manual Download

In the Collision Lists view, the Download Collision Lists button is available.

Automatic Download

To enable automated downloads of the lists, the following server configuration parameters must be set:

<add key="IsSanctionsListDownloadEnabled" value="false"></add>
<add key="SanctionsListDownloadTime" value="03:00"></add>

• Key IsSanctionsListDownloadEnabled value true enables automatic download. Value false disables automatic download.
• Key SanctionsListDownloadTime value is the time to start the download in the format [hh:mm]. A valid time must always be entered, even if automation is not enabled.

🛈 Note

StopWordsConfig

To prevent the phonetic search in KFC from returning too many potential matches when checking sanctions lists, the StopWords configuration file (StopWordsConfig.XML) in the search profile "CCCollisionListEntryValue" should be set as strictly as possible.
Additionally, first and last names that frequently appear in sanctions lists should be added to the weakwords list.
This will further improve the accuracy of the results view.