Plain answers to the questions buyers ask before a cross-border deal: which lists matter, how to read a screening hit, and what to check before money moves. Every guide uses public sources, and every guide says what it does not cover.
Free tools
Free instant sanctions check — a company name against the official OFAC, UK, EU, UN and US BIS lists, no account and no card. It is a screening signal, not a legal determination.
Guides
- How to check a company against the US BIS Entity List
Search the right name, collect the aliases, and compare identifiers instead of trusting a name match.
- OFAC SDN list vs BIS Entity List
One restricts the relationship, the other restricts the item. What that difference does to your decision.
- Why screening returns false positives
Substring hits, generic tokens, transliteration. How to tell a real hit from noise and clear it on paper.
- Checks before a first payment to a supplier
Six public-record checks, in order, before the money leaves for the first time.
- Screening checklist for freight forwarders
Which parties to screen on every shipment, when to screen them, and which changes should stop the booking.
- What a US$100 due-diligence report contains
The full scope before you spend anything, and the cases where it is the wrong product.
- How to check if a Chinese supplier is legitimate
The free national registry first, then the five official lists. What each field proves, and the fakes it catches.
- China's Unified Social Credit Code, explained
The 18-character identity of a Chinese company, and why a name match is not an entity match without it.
- Red flags when buying from a Chinese supplier
Nine signals, grouped by whether they should stop a payment, change a price, or send you back to the paperwork.
- Due diligence vs sanctions screening
One searches a name against published lists; the other is a document about one company. Different shelf life.
- What public records exist for a Chinese company
What is open and free, what is only a name list, and what no public source will ever show you.
- How to verify a Hong Kong company
The public registry shows status and directors for free. What it costs, and the gap it leaves for ownership.
- How to verify a UK company
Companies House is free and shows who really owns the company. What the public record covers, and what it does not.
- How to verify a US company
No single US registry exists. Each state keeps its own. What the public record covers, and what it does not.
- How to verify a Singapore company
ACRA BizFile is one of Asia's most transparent registries. What the free search shows, and why beneficial ownership stays private.
- How to verify an Australian company
ASIC is a single national registry. What the free search shows, what a paid extract adds, and why beneficial ownership stays private.
- How to verify a Japanese company
Japan's free registry gives identity only. The commercial register costs a few hundred yen and still hides shareholders. What each source shows.
- How to verify a German company
Germany splits its company data across three registers. What the free Handelsregister now gives you, and why the register holding the owners is closed.
- How to verify a French company
France made its company register free and open in 2023, across three systems. What each one holds, and why the accounts and the owners can still be out of reach.
- How to verify an Italian company
Italy gives away a thin company card and charges for every extract, and the register built to name the owners has been suspended by court order since 2024.
- How to verify a Canadian company
Canada has no single company register: fourteen jurisdictions, a free federal search, and an ownership register that went public in 2024 and stayed half closed.
- How to verify an Indian company
India's company register is free and needs no login. What the CIN encodes, what the record hides, and the tax and import-export checks that answer the rest.
Free check or paid report?
| Free instant check | US$100 report |
|---|
| What it does | A company name against five official lists, in seconds | The same lists on the report date, plus registration, ownership and public risk indicators |
| Registration and ownership | Not covered | Covered |
| Sources | The lists as held on our side | A source on every finding |
| Delivery | On screen, immediately | English document by email within 72 hours |
| Price | Free — no account, no card | US$100, one-off |
Frequently asked
Do I need an account to read these or to run the check?
No. The free check needs a company name and nothing else, and nothing is stored on our side.
Who writes these guides?
We do — the team that runs Kehe Screening. They describe public-record methods and say plainly what each one does not cover.
What these guides do not do. They are not legal advice and none of them tells you whether a deal is permitted or whether you should proceed. Sanctions and export-control rules depend on the item, the destination, the end use and your own obligations — and a screening result is a signal that a person has to read.
Paid
Kehe Screening — a US$100 due-diligence report on one company: sanctions and watchlists, registration and ownership, other public risk indicators, with a source on every finding. Delivered by email within 72 hours.
Run the free checkWhat the US$100 report covers