Compliance & Screening Checks

Alongside the tax and cross-document checks, CargoLint screens each document for restricted content: parties on sanctions lists, protected species, and goods that need a regulatory certification. The goal is to surface anything that should stop a shipment before you file it. Like every check in CargoLint, these are advisory - they tell you what to verify, not whether something is lawful.

How findings are graded

• Blocking - a finding serious enough to hold the shipment until you resolve it: a sanctioned-party match, a CITES Appendix I species, a screening check that could not complete, or a dangerous-goods disclosure problem. A blocking finding on any single document blocks the whole shipment, wherever it sits.
• Warning - worth verifying but not blocking, such as a CITES Appendix II/III species that likely needs a permit, or a party name that partly matches a listed one.
• Note - informational, such as a regulated-goods requirement to confirm.

What gets screened

Sanctioned and denied parties

CargoLint screens the shipper, consignee, buyer, and notify party names on a document against sanctions and denied-party lists: the UN Security Council consolidated list, the US OFAC SDN and non-SDN lists, the US Trade Consolidated Screening List, the US BIS Denied Persons List, Canada’s consolidated autonomous sanctions and listed terrorist entities, the EU financial sanctions list, and the UK FCDO list. Matching is word by word and tolerates close spelling variants (“ACME INC” vs “Acme Inc.”). How a match is graded depends on how close it is and where the two parties are:

• Blocking - the full name matches a listed party in the same country.
• Warning - the match relies on an extra word, or either party’s country is unknown.
• Note - the names match but the countries differ.

Because the match is on the name, a hit is a prompt to verify the party, not a determination that it’s the sanctioned entity - two companies can share a name. Clear it with your compliance team or broker before proceeding.

Protected species (CITES)

CargoLint scans line-item descriptions for species listed under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) by scientific name, using the official Species+ dataset. Common names are not matched: words like “mango” or “pine” are also everyday products. A short list of trade terms for CITES-listed material, such as rosewood, caviar, python skin, or mahogany timber, adds a note to check whether the item contains it.

• Appendix I - commercial trade is generally prohibited. Flagged as blocking; clear with permits before processing.
• Appendix II / III - regulated. Flagged as a warning to confirm the required CITES permits are on file.

Regulated goods and missing certifications

CargoLint matches the document’s HS codes against goods that a regulator at the destination (or, for export controls, at the origin) oversees: US FDA (prior notice, device and drug listing, cosmetics), USDA FSIS (meat, poultry, catfish, and egg products), EU CE marking, and the EU dual-use export list (Annex I). A match adds a note naming the agency and what to confirm. It is never blocking: an HS code alone does not settle whether a requirement applies, and most of these are handled with the regulator rather than shown on the invoice.

Dangerous goods disclosure

This one runs across the whole shipment, not a single document. If some documents in a shipment mention dangerous goods and others don’t, or the documents disagree on the UN number, hazard class, or packing group, CargoLint flags the disclosure as incomplete or inconsistent - blocking until reconciled. It reads what the documents say (UN numbers, hazard keywords); it checks that the disclosure is present and consistent, not whether the values are correct against the transport regulations.

The data behind the checks

• Sanctions: the lists above, loaded through OpenSanctions and refreshed daily.
• Species: Species+, the official CITES dataset, covering all three appendices.
• Regulated goods: lists maintained by CargoLint from the regulators’ own guidance (US FDA, USDA FSIS, EU CE marking, EU dual-use Annex I). The lists are maintained by hand, and one that has not been checked against its sources for six months is flagged for review.

What CargoLint deliberately does not do

• It does not make a legal determination. A name match, a species mention, or a missing certification is a prompt to check - not proof, an export-control ruling, or a customs decision.
• It screens party names, not destination or origin countries, against embargoes.
• For dangerous goods it checks disclosure and consistency, not validity against the UN Model Regulations or the mode-specific tables (IATA, IMDG, DOT).
• It does not perform full export-control classification (for example EAR or USML category assignment).

Important: All compliance and screening findings are advisory. They tell you what to verify before filing - they are not legal advice, an export-control determination, or a customs ruling. Confirm restricted-party, species, and licensing questions with your compliance team, broker, or the relevant authority.

What you see in the app

Screening findings appear in the Document Issues panel alongside the other checks. Each shows its severity, a plain-language message, the field involved, and the evidence behind it - which list a party matched, the CITES appendix, or the certification an HS code requires. A blocking finding marks the shipment as having critical issues until it’s resolved on the document itself.

What’s next

• Shipment Consistency Checks - The cross-document checks, and how a blocking issue affects the whole shipment
• Tax Compliance Checks - The tax checks that run alongside screening
• How to Review Documents - Resolve flagged issues during review
• Document Statuses - How a document moves through the pipeline