Our screening method, and its limits

VetLane compares your data with official government files using fixed rules. The same input on the same list version always gives the same result, every point of a score is explained, and no AI model is involved. This page sets out how it works, and what it cannot do.

Three principles

• Official sources only. Each list comes from the authority that publishes it, with its version date. See the official lists and versions in use.
• Fixed, explainable rules. No black box: each match shows the listed name, the list, its version and the similarity measures behind it.
• No AI model. A general-purpose AI can state a sanction that does not exist, miss one, or link two companies only because their names look alike. Its answer is neither dated nor reproducible. Your files are never sent to an AI model and never used for training.

Parties: how names are compared

1. Normalisation. Each name, yours and the listed ones, is put in lower case ASCII; Cyrillic is transliterated with BGN rules; punctuation and legal forms (LLC, OOO, GmbH, FZE...) are set aside so that "Sirius Trade FZE" and "SIRIUS TRADE" meet.
2. Candidates. The database looks for listed names with the same compact key, then for names whose trigram similarity reaches 0.4, on the active version of every list, keeping at most 50 candidates.
3. Scoring. Each candidate is scored from Jaro-Winkler similarity, similarity of the words in any order, and the country when you give one. From 0.92 the result is a close match, from 0.85 a possible match; an identical name is an exact match.
4. Status. Results are stated as facts: "0 match", "Alert to check" or "Match to review". VetLane never says that a customer or a sale is allowed.

You can try this rule-based name screening on one company with a free account, with the lists and versions shown in the result.

Products: how HS codes are compared

Each HS, CN or HTS code is compared by prefix with the controlled codes of each regime: a control on 8542.31 covers 8542.31.90. The regimes are the Common High Priority List, the annexes of EU Regulation 833/2014 that list goods by code, and Supplement No. 4 to Part 746 of the US EAR. See how to map HS codes to the CHPL, or check your HS codes against the CHPL for free.

Destinations and the VetLane Score

Each destination is compared with the embargoes, sanctions regimes and high-risk transit countries named in US, UK and EU guidance, and each order with signs such as a delivery country different from the billing one. The VetLane Score adds fixed points per criterion, product, destination and party, so that you can see why a customer or an order stands out and in what order to review them.

Records

Each record states what was checked, against which list versions, with which result. It is sealed with a SHA-256 fingerprint and timestamped by a qualified time-stamping authority (Certigna, RFC 3161), so that anyone can verify that a sealed record is unchanged. See the audit trail.

What the system cannot do

• A match is not proof. A similar name may be another company. Compare the address, country and identifiers, decide, and note your decision.
• No match is not a clearance. A party can be unlisted and still be a front; an item can be off the CHPL and still need a licence. The red flags still matter.
• Only the lists shown are screened. Swiss, Canadian and Australian lists, for example, are not loaded yet.
• Ownership is partly known. Public registers record some parent companies, not every shareholder; the result says what it could not cover.
• Your codes are your data. A wrong or missing HS code in your file gives a wrong or missing product result.
• Some controls are not visible by code, such as technical criteria in Annex VII of Regulation 833/2014. The result says which annexes were read.
• It is not legal advice. VetLane supports and records your due diligence; the decision to export remains yours.