---
title: "Removal of hardcoded sanction program names"
url: "https://www.opensanctions.org/changelog/33/"
id: "33"
date_created: "2025-09-09T09:42:11.896Z"
date_effective: "2025-09-11"
breaking: false
categories: ["Data model","Datasets"]
---

# Removal of hardcoded sanction program names

After the introduction of [sanction program identifiers](/articles/2025-07-09-program-mapping/), we're now migrating a number of smaller national sanctions lists to use the same mechanism. Until now, we annotated hard-coded program names in these datasets (as values for the `Sanction:program` property). 

As these program names are not authoritative, we are now replacing them with `Sanction:programId` references. This creates a clearer separation between the data provided from source, and analytical annotations stemming from our data pipeline. 

Read more [about using sanctions programs](https://www.opensanctions.org/faq/168/programs/).

Affected datasets:
 * `au_listed_terrorist_orgs`
 * `br_ceis`
 * `ca_named_research_orgs`
 * `cz_terrorists`
 * `eu_esma_saris`
 * `interpol_api`
 * `ir_sanctions`
 * `kz_afmrk_sanctions`
 * `li_posting_sanctions`
 * `lt_fiu_freezes`
 * `nz_russia_sanctions`
 * `Pending:`
 * `pk_proscribed_persons`
 * `pl_finanse_sanctions`
 * `ru_mfa_sanctions`
 * `sg_terrorists`
 * `ua_nsdc_sanctions`
 * `un_1718_vessels`
 * `us_bis_denied`
 * `us_cuba_sanctions`
 * `us_ddtc_debarred`
 * `us_ddtc_enforcements`
 * `us_dod_chinese_milcorps`
 * `us_fcc_covered_list`
 * `us_fed_enforcements`
 * `us_hhs_exclusions`
 * `us_state_terrorist_orgs`