I caught this MSNBC article on the Specially Designated Nations (SDN) List maintain by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). You can find the actual list here. What is interesting is the customer lifecycle challenges which businesses in the US are presented with - when having to comply with this law. The SDN is essentially a list of 'bad guys'. The problem is - that lots of other people share their name. Most companies have a goal of 1) making money and 2) making customers happy. A business doesn't have the luxury to turn away a customer because their name happens to be the same as a 'bad guy'. However - it is also reasonable for a society to have a list of forbidden individuals.

The problem is not the existence list. It is the implementation of the list. If you receive a 'positive hit' against the list you would naturally need to contact the government. This situation presents a company with an opportunity to practice customer service excellence. Do you have a process in place to deal with the escalation? Can you service reps escalate the issue without making your customer feel like 'bad guy'. Chances are - this customer has had this experience before. This is a chance for your company to really shine - to give great service to people that might not normally receive it.

There are ways to comply with your legal obligations (always check with your lawyers as to what those obligations are) - but your service reps shouldn't pretend to be police. Such an approach will lead to better customer satisfaction and most likely better enforcement of the such lists.