Restricted Party Screening with Visual Compliance

What is RPS?

Restricted Party Screening is the process of identifying whether or not any parties involved in a transaction can be found on watch lists maintained by multiple U.S. government and international agencies. It helps to ensure organizations are not conducting business with a debarred party—be it an individual or a business entity.

Depending on the methodology or screening solution used (e.g., Descartes Visual Compliance), screening for denied parties can also help to ensure organizations are not unlawfully doing business with someone located in a sanctioned or embargoed country.

Who Should be Screened?

Generally speaking, screening should be performed for every export or financial transaction, domestic and foreign. Ideally, screening should include every party involved in the transaction, including the final end user, and the chain of individuals and businesses in-between.

Screening should also be take place for any type of contact, including visitors, employees, business associates, re-sellers, etc.—though the lists screened may vary for each of these purposes. Countries where exports are destined should also be screened to ensure they are not currently facing sanctions or embargoes.

How do I Run a Screen?

We use a online screening tool called Descartes Visual Compliance to run restricted party screens. A screen merely consists of entering the name of the individual or company being screened. A country or address can be added as a search parameter if further specificity is needed. This is helpful when common names would otherwise flag many false positives.

How do I Log In to Visual Compliance?

You log in by going to https://www.visualcompliance.com/ and log in using your Caltech SSO. – Important: First time users will need to request access from Export Compliance.

Requesting Access to Visual Compliance

Caltech has an institute-wide license. You can gain access by contacting the Office of Export Compliance. Please email exportcompliance@caltech.edu with the subject line "Visual Compliance Access Request", and provide your name, email, and division. You will receive a confirmation email with a link and instructions to set up your account typically within the next 24 hours.

Training, Institute Guidelines, and Best Practices

Training on how to run Restricted Party Screening can be provided upon request by contacting the Office of Export Compliance. The session is held over zoom and usually can be done in under 15 minutes. There is also an institute RPS Manual.