Definitions of the core concepts and terms used across the OpenSanctions data.
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Definitions of the core concepts and terms used across the OpenSanctions data.
A collection is a bundle of entities (people, companies, etc.) from multiple data sources. These sources might have a similar topical focus (e.g. international sanctions, regulatory watchlists, or procurement bans). The main collection produced by OpenSanctions (and available via our API) is called default. See a list of available collections.
When screening entities using the matching API or advanced search page, users can limit the results to entities appearing in a specific collection. When integrating our bulk data, we recommend using the default collection and filtering entities based on risk tags or what collection or dataset they appear in. See our documentation on using bulk data and why you probably don't want to use our peps collection
Datasets are the groupings in which entities are organized. Every entity is at least part of one dataset, which describes the data source from which it was retrieved (e.g. the main US sanctions list). We provide metadata for each dataset, describing its publisher, data coverage and the limitations inherent in the source. You can download bulk exports in standardized data formats for each dataset.
OpenSanctions combines entities from multiple sources into collections, see here.
PS. Did you know that the W3C defines a dataset as a "set of data"? Computer science is thrilling stuff, people.
We use the term coverage inside dataset metadata to describe when a dataset is added to the database (dataset.coverage.start), and how often it is updated. While most data sources are updated automatically in specific intervals (the update frequency, dataset.coverage.frequency), this there are some exceptions.
This includes datasets where the original publisher has stopped releasing updates of the data, and datasets where we cannot fully automate the retrieval process (e.g. because of a firewall preventing automated access, or because the data is released in an unstructured form that requires manual cleaning). Some datasets are simply static documents: lists mandated by a law, or reports that are only published once.
In those cases, the date of the most recent version included in the database is also recorded as part of the metadata (dataset.coverage.end).
Entities are the data atoms of OpenSanctions. They can describe real things — like a person, company, passport or airplane — or somewhat abstract notions like a sanctions designation. Each entity has a set of properties, like a name, date of birth, or tax identifier.
Entities are organised into a network graph that describes the connections which exist between them. Our data model describes some types of relationships as entities which in turn have their own properties.
OpenSanctions generates and publishes a comprehensive database of risk-linked entities. The term "entity of interest" is used to describe companies or people that are not directly subject to sanctions but are included in OpenSanctions for other reasons. It does not carry a specific legal meaning, and does not imply wrongdoing.
Having grown from our core focus of aggregating sanctions data, OpenSanctions also includes politically exposed persons, companies and people included in debarment databases, criminal watchlists, and other domain datasets related to corruption, money laundering and other forms of financial crime. We use data enrichment to find companies linked to sanctioned entities, which may be subject to secondary sanctions.
If you are uncertain why an entity is included, we recommend a) looking at the "Relationships" section of the entity profile to see if it is linked to a primary risk source, and b) checking the metadata description of the data sources (linked at the bottom of the entity profile) to understand the rationale for its composition.
More information:
Politically exposed persons (PEP) is a term from the banking industry to describe individuals who have been entrusted with a prominent public function. This might include a members of cabinets, parliaments, senior public servants or people that run state-owned companies.
Sanctions programs are the specific government policies that form the legal basis for designating individuals, companies, vessels, or other entities as sanctioned. Each program usually defines a scope and a set of measures that the issuing government will impose on the sanctioned target.
The target flag included in entities is a simplified representation of the risk topics which apply to that entity. If an entity carried any topic designation which is associated with a risk category (sanctioned, PEP, debarred, etc. — see a full list), the target flag will be set to true.
Historically, the target flag functioned as a precursor to risk topics, and simply indicated whether the entity was a primary designation on any watchlist included in the database. Since the semantics of this are unclear, target is now fully derived from topics.