The UN Security Council Consolidated List names every individual and entity subject to measures imposed by the Security Council. The UN publishes it as one free file. On 15 October 2026 it held 736 individuals and 274 entities.
The UN list does not bind your business directly. UN sanctions bind countries, and each country turns them into its own law. This guide covers how names get on the list, what it contains, where to download it, and how it connects to the lists your business has to follow. For the basics, start with what a sanctions list is.
Where do UN sanctions come from?
They come from Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Article 41 lets the Security Council decide on "measures not involving the use of armed force" and call on UN members to apply them. The examples in the Charter include cutting off economic relations, transport and communications.
Article 25 makes those decisions binding on member states:
The Members of the United Nations agree to accept and carry out the decisions of the Security Council in accordance with the present Charter.
The Council's sanctions overview says it has set up 31 sanctions regimes since 1966. Fifteen are in place today. They cover political settlement of conflicts, nuclear non-proliferation and counter-terrorism. Examples include the regimes on ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Libya, Yemen and Haiti.
How do names get on the UN list?
Each regime has its own sanctions committee. The committee is chaired by a member of the Security Council, and it is the committee that adds names, amends entries and removes names.
The ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida committee has the most entries. It is made up of all 15 Council members and decides by consensus. Its fact sheet on listing sets out the process:
- A member state proposes a name. The Council encourages all member states to submit names. They use a standard form for individuals, groups or entities.
- The state sends a statement of case. It sets out why the name meets the listing criteria, the kind of evidence behind it, and any link to someone already listed.
- The committee decides. If a proposal is not approved within 10 full working days, the committee tells the submitting state where it stands. The chair can set exceptions for emergency listings.
- The list is updated. Within three working days of publication, the UN Secretariat notifies the countries where the person or entity is believed to be, and the person's country of nationality.
The fact sheet also says "a criminal charge or conviction is not necessary" for listing, "as the sanctions are intended to be preventive in nature."
Names come off the list the same way, by committee decision. People listed under the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida regime can ask the Office of the Ombudsperson to review their listing. The UN also runs a Focal Point for De-listing.
What does the list contain?
The Consolidated List page says it "includes all individuals and entities subject to measures imposed by the Security Council." It has two sections: individuals, and entities and other groups.
One file does not mean one set of rules. The UN says putting all names on one list "neither implies that all names are listed under one regime, nor that the criteria for listing specific names are the same."
Who is on it
The list file generated on 15 October 2026 had entries from 14 regimes. The largest groups were:
| Regime | Entries |
|---|---|
| ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida | 336 |
| DPRK | 155 |
| Taliban | 140 |
| Iran | 121 |
| Iraq | 74 |
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | 61 |
The rest came from the Libya, Somalia, Central African Republic, Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, Guinea-Bissau and South Sudan regimes.
What each entry shows
Every entry has a permanent reference number. The letters show the regime: QD for ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida, KP for the DPRK, CF for the Central African Republic. Then comes "i" for an individual or "e" for an entity, and a number. QDi.001 is the first individual on the ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida list.
An entry for an individual can include:
- up to four name fields, plus the name in its original script
- title and designation (job or position)
- dates and places of birth
- aliases, split into "good quality" and "low quality"
- nationality, passport and national ID numbers
- addresses
- the date the committee listed the person, and the dates of any amendments
Entity entries carry the name, aliases, former names and addresses. Where the committee has no data for a field, the list shows "na".
The "low quality" alias label matters when you screen. The UN describes these as aliases "probably insufficient alone for a positive identification." A hit on a low quality alias alone is a weak match.
Committees publish narrative summaries of the reasons for listing on their own web pages, where available.
What do UN sanctions require?
Each committee's page sets out the measures for its regime. Member states must apply the measures specific to each listed name, as set out by the related committee.
The ISIL (Da'esh) and Al-Qaida regime uses the three measures you see most often:
- Asset freeze. States must freeze "without delay" the funds, other financial assets and economic resources of listed individuals and entities.
- Travel ban. States must stop listed individuals entering or passing through their territory.
- Arms embargo. States must prevent the supply, sale and transfer of arms, spare parts and military training or advice to listed individuals and entities, from their territory or by their nationals abroad.
Other regimes use other combinations, including commodity restrictions. For a business, the asset freeze is the part that matters: do not pay a listed party, and do not make funds or goods available to them.
How do countries put UN sanctions into law?
Every UN member must carry out Security Council decisions. Each one does it through its own legal system.
United States
Section 5 of the United Nations Participation Act, codified at 22 U.S.C. § 287c, lets the President apply Article 41 measures through any agency he designates. That includes regulating or banning economic dealings with the countries and people involved.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) lists section 5 as one of the legal authorities for its North Korea sanctions. It adds that "OFAC may also implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs)" in that programme. OFAC's legal library has a table of UN resolutions matched to its own programmes, such as North Korea, Iran, Yemen and Somalia. US businesses screen against OFAC's lists, chiefly the SDN list.
United Kingdom
Section 13 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 deals with "UN-named persons". Where a UK sanctions regulation exists to meet a UN obligation, it must treat the people named by the Security Council or its committees as designated persons.
UN names then appear on the UK Sanctions List, which the government says "is now the only source for all UK sanctions designations." Its change log records UN changes as they happen. On 1 October 2025, for example, the UK reimposed 121 UN designations under its Iran (Nuclear) regime. The UN file of 15 October 2026 lists 121 entries under Iran.
European Union
The European Commission says the EU has over 40 sanctions regimes. Some are mandated by the UN Security Council and the rest are the EU's own. The Commission's DG FISMA is responsible for "transposing certain United Nations sanctions into EU law." The EU Sanctions Map shows these regimes next to the EU's own. Our guide to the EU sanctions list covers how EU listings bind businesses.
Australia
Australia gives effect to UN sanctions under the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945. Section 6 of the Act is headed "Regulations may apply sanctions". Section 8 makes those regulations expire when the sanctions resolution stops binding Australia. The list Australian businesses check is DFAT's Consolidated List, covered in our guide to Australia's Consolidated List.
New Zealand
New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says New Zealand is bound by the Council's decisions as a UN member. It implements UN sanctions "in regulations made under the United Nations Act 1946." MFAT says a breach of those regulations is a criminal offence. It currently lists regulations for regimes including the DPRK, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Al Qaida and the Taliban, and Haiti.
Where can you download the UN list?
The Consolidated List page offers the current version in XML, HTML and PDF. Each comes in two orders:
- Alphabetical, by name in Latin script
- By permanent reference number, grouped by regime
The XML file suits screening software. When we checked, it downloaded without an account and carried a dateGenerated stamp of 15 October 2026. The PDF and HTML buttons both downloaded an HTML file on the same day.
The page also links to a search tool for the UN lists and offers an email subscription for updates. Questions about the list go to the Secretariat at [email protected].
How often does the UN list change?
There is no fixed schedule. The list changes whenever a committee adds, amends or removes an entry. The UN posts a press release after every change, in the press releases section of the committee concerned. The list page shows the date of the last update.
In the file generated on 15 October 2026, entries had been amended on nine separate days since 1 July 2026. Twenty of the entries still on the list were first listed in 2026. Removed names leave the file, so removals do not show in those counts.
How does the UN list relate to the list you have to follow?
Your legal duty comes from the national or regional law that applies to you, and cross-border deals can bring in more than one. The official lists are screening sources, not the whole legal test. A UK business screens against the UK Sanctions List. A US business follows OFAC's lists. An EU business follows the EU list. Each of those is meant to carry the UN names, but each country adds them through its own process.
Your national list can also be larger than the UN list. The UK, the EU and New Zealand, for example, run sanctions of their own beyond the UN regimes. Those names appear only on the national list. Checking the UN list alone misses them.
So the UN list is a cross-check, not a replacement:
- Screen your suppliers and customers against your national list first.
- Check the UN list too if you trade across borders, or if a partner asks whether you screen against it.
- Compare any hit against date of birth, nationality and ID numbers before calling it a match. Treat a hit on a low quality alias alone with caution.
- Record the date, the list version, what you searched and the result.
If a match looks real, hold the payment and get legal advice before you release anything.
Sanctions Verified, opening to QuickBooks Online and Xero users, will fetch the UN Consolidated List every 6 hours and screen your contacts against it alongside OFAC, UK, EU and four other lists. It keeps a dated record of each check that names the list version used. Until it launches, the manual steps above do the job.
This guide is general information, not legal advice.
