Understanding Ownership Screening Under the 50% Rule

Export compliance starts with knowing who you’re really doing business with. The OFAC 50% rule and the forthcoming BIS 50% rule make ownership screening essential for exporters: enforcement is ratcheting up, and hidden 50% ownership can derail deals late in the process—leading to costly project cancellations. This video explains why ownership transparency matters and how to build a reliable restricted party screening program that catches indirect ownership tied to the SDN list and other restricted parties.Here’s the core insight: it’s not just named entities you must avoid. If a restricted party owns 50% or more of another company, that company is also restricted. The OFAC 50% rule has been in place for years, and while BIS’s 50% rule has been delayed for a year, now is the time to prepare. Because federal lists don’t publish complete ownership chains, manual research isn’t practical. Technology and third‑party ownership mapping are the only scalable way to surface indirect relationships.At Vigilant Global Trade Services, we help exporters operationalize this. We provide software, integrate with specialized mapping providers like Sayari, Atlanta, and Kharon and perform reviews and adjudication so your restricted party screening covers both direct and indirect ownership. Want to strengthen your program or get pointed in the right direction?