Compliance Academy
Complex regulatory rules and workflow concepts explained in plain English—with beginner and advanced depths for every operational role.
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What is adjudication?
The formal review process to determine if a watchlist screening match is a true identity fit or a false positive.
What is transaction due diligence?
Vetting all parties, ownership, and end-uses associated with a transaction to ensure compliance with trade controls.
What is an end user statement?
A signed certification by a foreign buyer declaring the final destination and intended use of export-controlled items.
What is an evidence pack?
A compiled, tamper-evident record of all screening, adjudication, and approval history generated for regulatory audits.
What is match confidence?
A mathematical similarity score indicating the degree of alignment between a queried name and a restricted party entry.
What is a disposition?
The recorded final decision or outcome applied to a screening match during the adjudication process.
What is host attestation?
A formal confirmation by an employee host verifying the identity, nationality, and purpose of their visitor.
What is monitoring?
The scheduled, continuous re-screening of entities or counterparties against watchlists to detect post-intake status changes.
What is a restricted party?
An individual, company, or organization listed on a government watchlist that is prohibited from certain transactions or access.
What is license tracking?
The recording, monitoring, and verification of government export authorizations, expiration dates, and conditions.
What is a false positive?
A screening alert that flags an innocent individual or entity because they share similar name characteristics with a restricted party.
What is escalation?
The formal transfer of an unresolved or high-risk compliance alert to a senior officer or specialist for final determination.
What is a sanctions list?
An official government register of individuals, companies, and countries subject to legal trade or financial restrictions.
What is the OFAC 50% Rule?
An OFAC policy that treats any entity owned 50% or more (directly or indirectly) by a sanctioned person as itself sanctioned, even if not explicitly listed.
What is re-screening?
Running a new watchlist check against a previously screened individual or entity to capture status changes since their last screening.
What is an embargo?
A government-imposed prohibition on trade, exports, financial transactions, or other economic activity with a specific country or region.
What is a U.S. person vs. a foreign national?
The export-control status of an individual — U.S. citizen, green-card holder, or protected individual versus everyone else — that decides who may access controlled technology at an ITAR or EAR facility.
What is a deemed export?
Releasing controlled technology or technical data to a foreign person inside the United States — which the law treats as an export to that person's home country.
What is ITAR?
The International Traffic in Arms Regulations — the U.S. rules controlling defense articles, defense services, and the technical data behind them.
What is CMMC (Level 1 vs Level 2)?
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification — the DoD program that requires defense contractors to prove they protect government information, at a level set by their contract.
What is CUI vs. FCI?
Two categories of sensitive government information — Federal Contract Information and Controlled Unclassified Information — that set how much protection a defense contractor must apply.
What is visitor escort and monitoring?
Accompanying visitors and watching their activity so they only reach areas they are approved for — a named requirement for facilities handling CUI.
What is fuzzy logic matching?
Approximate name-matching that flags entries close to a watchlist name even when they are not spelled identically, producing a confidence score for review.
What is a sanctions/country hit (and the controlled-goods test)?
A screening alert tied to a sanctioned country or party, which a reviewer clears only after checking whether controlled goods or a military end-use are involved.
What are the U.S. antiboycott rules?
U.S. rules that discourage or prohibit American companies from cooperating with foreign boycotts the U.S. does not sanction, and require reporting certain boycott-related requests.
What is enhanced proliferation (EPCI)?
Catch-all export controls that can require a license — even for otherwise low-controlled items — when you know or have reason to know they will support weapons-of-mass-destruction or certain military programs.
What is a non-U.S. (foreign) restricted-party list?
A restricted-party list maintained by a foreign government or body (EU, UK, UN, others), which matters to U.S. operations when there is a U.S. nexus such as U.S.-controlled goods.
"True hit, but not relevant to our business" — and how to document it
A disposition for a confirmed (real) match that does not apply to your line of business — recorded with the agency, the denied-party (DPL) category, and a detailed explanation.
What is an AML / financial-watchlist hit?
A screening match against an anti-money-laundering or financial-crime watchlist — a different regime from export/sanctions, often "reviewed, not relevant" for a non-financial business.
What is the SAM.gov / GSA Excluded Parties list?
The federal government's list of parties barred from federal contracts and assistance (SAM.gov Exclusions, formerly EPLS) — often "exclusion not relevant" to export/visitor screening.
What is an HHS-OIG exclusion (LEIE)?
The HHS Office of Inspector General's list of parties excluded from federal health-care programs (the LEIE) — typically "exclusion not relevant" outside health care.
What is identity verification (identity resolution)?
Confirming whether a screening match is actually the same person, by comparing secondary identifiers — not just the name.
What is an audit trail?
The time-stamped, tamper-evident record of every screen, match, and decision — who did what, when, and why.
This glossary is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. SecurePoint USA is not a law firm and this material is not a substitute for qualified sanctions or export-control counsel. Regulations change frequently — always confirm current requirements against the cited primary sources and with your own compliance or legal team before making operational or legal determinations.