New 30 October Afghanistan notice updates sanctions list

The UK has published a new Afghanistan financial-sanctions noticeGOV dated 30 October 2026GOV. The notice runs to ten pagesGOV and sits at the top of the Afghanistan designations pageGOV, with the previous 28 August 2026 noticeGOV retained below it as an inline link. Compliance teams screening the Afghanistan regime should work from the new notice alongside the UK Sanctions List.

Each Afghanistan notice records, for its date, the additions of newly designated persons, delistings where the UN has removed an entry, revocations following the UK's own decision-making process, variations changing a designation, and administrative corrections. Additions appear as new entries and removals are listed as entries taken off the list. Variations and corrections are shown as marked-up text: deleted information in strikethrough and red, new information underlined and highlighted in yellow. Readers should therefore check not only for new names but for altered details on existing entries, since a variation can change the identifiers on which screening depends.

Individual entries carry a unique ID, the regime name, the sanctions imposed, the UK statement of reasons, dates of birth, nationalities, national identifiers, passport details, positions, gender, town and country of birth, name forms including aliases and non-Latin scripts, addresses, the designation source, the designation and last-updated dates, and the OFSI group ID. Entity entries carry the equivalent business fields including entity type, subsidiaries, parent companies and registration numbers. The format guide for the UK Sanctions List explains these fields for firms ingesting the list into screening systems.

The Afghanistan regulations implement the UK's United Nations obligations: their stated purpose is compliance with the asset-freeze and arms-embargo measures in resolution 2255 in respect of persons named on the 1988 Sanctions List, and everyone currently named on that list is a designated person for the asset-freeze prohibitions and the trade measures. The designations page notes that the regulations target individuals and entities engaging in or supporting acts threatening the peace, security and stability of Afghanistan. Foreign Office notices recording list changes have been issued since 28 January 2026, with earlier financial-sanctions notices issued by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.

The new notice, read with the UK Sanctions List, gives the current entries together with the marked-up variations and corrections. A person must not deal with funds or economic resources owned, held or controlled by a designated person, or make funds or economic resources available to or for the benefit of one, knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect the position (regulations 8 to 12, subject to the exceptions and licences in Part 5)Legislation. A relevant firm that knows or suspects a customer is a designated person or has breached a finance prohibition must inform the Treasury as soon as practicable (regulation 30)Legislation. The legal basis is the Afghanistan (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020GOV (regulations 4 and 5 on purposes and designation, with the asset-freeze in regulations 8 to 12Legislation) made under the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.