ETP (Economics & Trade Programme)
Sanctions Tracker
How are sanctions and countermeasures used across competing jurisdictions, and what can the evidence tell us?
The CISES Sanctions Tracker records sanctions, export controls and counter-sanctions across six jurisdictions, connecting the design of economic restrictions to their issuing authorities and primary sources.
Explore patterns across issuers, targets, measures and designated parties, or inspect individual source-linked records.
From sanctions activity to evidence of effectiveness
Sanctions, export controls and counter-sanctions are increasingly central to economic statecraft and strategic competition. The CISES Sanctions Tracker establishes a structured, source-linked record of the measures imposed, their design and their stated objectives. Its longer-term purpose is to support systematic assessment of whether sanctions achieve those objectives, not simply to catalogue policy announcements.
The first phase covers China, Russia, Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Measures are documented by issuing authority, target, legal basis, type, sector, status and stated objective. Economic-impact evidence will be kept separate and linked to the measures for subsequent analysis, so that the record of action remains distinct from evidence of outcomes.
Maintained collaboratively by analysts within CISES’s Economics & Trade Programme, the register supports comparative work on sanctions regimes and geoeconomics. It is a research resource rather than a sanctions-screening or compliance service.
An evidence-led visual account
Follow the relationships, then inspect the records
Scroll through thirteen views of the register. The graphic remains in place while the analysis advances. Measure counts and designation counts are clearly distinguished; the filters apply across every chart.
Issuer–target matrix
An issuer–target matrix
The six-by-six matrix shows who issues measures against whom, with row totals for measures issued and column totals for measures targeting each jurisdiction.
Cells count measures, not individual designations. A coloured edge identifies the target; the main cell colour identifies the issuer.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Issuer comparisons, divided by target
Compare the volume of recorded measures issued by each jurisdiction, segmented by the targeted jurisdiction.
Differences in legal instruments, coding and research coverage complicate direct comparisons.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Annual measures by issuer
Compare issue-year trends, with each jurisdiction assigned a stable colour.
Counts reflect the research register rather than an exhaustive worldwide history.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Primary instrument types
Compare the primary instrument assigned to each measure. A separate secondary Type 2 may also be recorded.
Many measures have two instrument types. This view counts only the primary Type so each measure contributes once.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Stated purpose by issuer
Compare each jurisdiction’s stated purposes, using the analyst-coded Category field.
Categories describe stated policy grounds, not independently verified policy motives. Smaller categories are combined as Other in this graphic.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Category over time
See how the annual distribution of recorded stated purposes has changed.
Issue-year patterns partly reflect historical coverage. Less frequent categories are visually grouped; full breakdowns remain in the tables.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Category by targeted jurisdiction
Compare which target jurisdictions receive measures assigned to human-rights, technology-control, security and other categories.
Targets are coded jurisdictions, not necessarily the physical addresses of designated parties.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Category by primary instrument
Cross-reference the stated purpose with the primary legal or economic instrument.
The matrix uses Type only, excluding Type 2 to prevent duplicate counting.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Share of measures recorded as in effect
Compare the proportion of implemented measures currently coded In Effect for each issuer.
Older measures have had more time to expire or be revoked, so these percentages are not age-adjusted. Threatened/announced stages are excluded.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
United States and China: action and reaction
A mirrored annual comparison places US measures targeting China opposite Chinese measures targeting the United States.
Two measures occurring close together does not itself establish retaliation.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Cumulative recorded designations
Follow cumulative designation events across years for each issuer, separated into individuals, entities and vessels.
Designation types use neutral greys separate from jurisdiction colours. Figures are designation events, not unique parties, and the small charts use independent scales.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Targets covered by multiple issuers
The grid highlights targeted jurisdictions for which named parties appear in records issued by at least two distinct jurisdictions.
This is a target-jurisdiction coverage grid, not proof that two issuers sanctioned the same party. Aggregate-only counts are excluded.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
Filter the evidence across every chart
Choose an issuing or targeted jurisdiction. All preceding charts and the source-linked register below use the same selection.
Filters change the displayed evidence; they do not predict economic effects.
Source: CISES Sanctions Tracker, public research workbook.
From visual finding to source record
Every chart is an entry point into the underlying evidence. Check the original legal instrument and the measure’s stage and status before drawing conclusions.
View the underlying chart data as accessible tables
Data loading…
How to read the charts: measure totals count Measure IDs, whereas designation totals count recorded designation events. Primary instrument types are exclusive; secondary types are separately displayed. Category charts use analyst-coded stated purposes. The named-party grid counts target coverage by issuer, not identical parties sanctioned twice. A new data fetch does not mean every record has been legally reverified.
Source-linked evidence
Search sanctions records
Investigate entries by issuing jurisdiction, intended target, instrument, date and recorded status. The downloadable report is generated from the selected records.
Loading source-linked records…
Contextual related measures (excluded from totals)
Methodology & scope · v5.4
What the register can and cannot establish
Unit of analysis
Each entry is one research record. It may describe a single person, multiple companies, a policy package or a sector-wide restriction. Record counts are not counts of sanctioned entities or monetary values.
Geography
Origin and target are the jurisdictions recorded by analysts. The matrix does not indicate the physical location of every listed person or firm. The European Union is treated as an issuing jurisdiction.
Research scope
All figures and exports use only the maintained CISES research register. Records transferred from earlier research have already been reviewed within that register. The absence of a record is not evidence that a restriction does not exist.
Dates and status
Issue date indicates when the measure was reportedly adopted or issued; database entry date indicates when it was recorded. Status History records selected subsequent changes, shown under individual measures. The stage-specific status chart excludes measures coded as threatened or announced from its implemented-measure denominator. These fields are not a guarantee of legal currency.
Instruments and verification
The main instrument chart uses the primary Type field only; the secondary Type 2 field is displayed with individual records. Designation Counts supplies aggregate counts when named parties are not available. The issuing authority, not this website, determines the legal effect of a measure. The tracker is not a sanctions-screening or compliance service.
Publication and citation
The public research records are loaded when this page opens. A downloaded PDF is a dated snapshot of the selected records, not a continuously updating file.
Suggested citation: Centre for International Security and Economic Strategy, Economics & Trade Programme, Sanctions Tracker, version 5.1, date accessed.