Strengthening Corporate Security: Digital Sanctions List Screening Directly from the ERP System
The international business environment has become more complex in recent years. The frequency of new or stricter sanctions is increasing, and political and economic developments are constantly changing the demands placed on companies and their management. At the same time, regulatory authorities and business partners have increasingly high expectations regarding full compliance and transparent business practices.
In January 2026, Germany further tightened the Foreign Trade Act (AWG) and added additional requirements regarding companies’ due diligence obligations. Companies must now maintain complete documentation demonstrating that all business partners, customers, suppliers, and employees are continuously screened against the most current sanctions lists. Violations are subject to stricter penalties, and the personal liability of management has increased further. These regulatory changes have led to the implementation of automated and audit-proof verification solutions within the ERP system becoming a new de facto standard for compliance and, consequently, responsible corporate governance.
But what exactly is a sanctions list screening?
This involves regularly screening business partners, customers, and employees against current national and international sanctions lists. This screening helps identify risks in the business environment at an early stage and prevents uncertainty, economic consequences, and the unintentional conduct of transactions that could have criminal implications.
ERP-Integrated Sanctions List Screening: A Key Step Toward Digitalization in Compliance
To date, many companies still check sanctions lists on an ad hoc or manual basis – which, given the growing regulatory requirements and increasing complexity mentioned above, is often no longer sufficient. Integrated solutions ensure that screenings are performed systematically, automatically, and in an audit-proof manner as part of day-to-day operations – directly within your ERP system and without placing additional burdens on business departments. Master data records or ongoing processes (such as quotes, orders, and payments) can be automatically blocked in the event of identified sanctions violations, for example, without requiring employees to take manual action with a time delay. This keeps your company flexible, adaptable, and always on the safe side.
Your Benefits
- Increased Efficiency & Process Integration:
Fully automated background screening of all relevant business partners – updated daily and requiring no manual follow-up. Automated and comprehensive intervention in cases of sanctions, both in master data and transaction data.
- Legal Certainty:
Verifiable compliance through continuously logged verification processes in accordance with the latest requirements.
- End-to-end digital process:
Online verification against constantly updated sanctions lists – seamlessly integrated with your existing ERP process, minimizing media breaks and increasing transparency.
- Future-proof:
Rapid adaptability to legal changes and flexible scalability of the solution.
As an experienced ERP provider and ERP consultant, ORDAT helps companies take this step in a sustainable and future-proof manner.
A sanctions or embargo list is an official register of individuals, organizations, companies, and even entire countries and states to which no financial or economic resources may be provided. In addition to the basic UN sanctions list, EU lists as well as sanctions lists from various countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Japan, and the United States must be taken into account, as they impose sanctions on specific financial, energy, or trade sectors, among others.
Sanctions list screening is a process in which companies regularly check business partners and employees against national and international sanctions lists. The goal is to ensure transparency, compliance with legal and internal corporate requirements, and the reduction of associated financial risks.
Yes. Regardless of their legal structure or size, companies are required to continuously review and comply with sanctions lists in order to conduct business in compliance with the law. Even if your company does not engage in international business, you must regularly check whether your business partners, customers, suppliers, and employees are listed on a sanctions list.
Various official websites offer a free, manual online check against sanctions lists. This manual check is usually very time-consuming due to the large number of sanctions lists. However, there are tools that can be integrated into your ERP system to automate the screening process, run it in the background, and automatically document all results – such as the FORMAT-SAM sanctions monitor from our partner, Format Software Service GmbH.
We guide you through every step of the process – from consultation and configuration to implementation – ensuring a seamless integration tailored to your needs. We offer sanctions list screening solutions for both our ORDAT.ERP users – via the “sanctions control” feature – and our Microsoft D365 F & SCM customers – via the ORDAT 365sam app.
