PEP methodology

This page describes how PEP data is represented in our bulk files and API, and where our method is still being set. It applies equally to the bulk files and to screening results.

How a PEP is represented

We work from records, not positions. Each row on an office-holder register becomes one Person record (or, where the register lists bodies rather than people, an organisation) with:

the topic role.pep;
the person's name, and birth date or nationality where the register gives them;
a Sanction entity for the listing, whose authority is the register and whose program holds the role or office as published (for example a chamber, constituency or title).

We do not yet model positions as entities of their own, nor occupancies with start and end dates, so a record does not say whether the person is still in office. When the same person is on several registers, the records are separate; where we have matched them, they share a canonical_id.

Which positions we include

We include registers published by official bodies that list holders of public office: national and sub-national legislatures, governments and cabinets, courts, diplomatic missions, election authorities and public-office directories.

To be provided: our written inclusion criteria for PEP positions (which offices and levels of government, and whether state-owned enterprises, military and party officials are covered).

Registers by country

The PEP registers in the current peps download, grouped by the publisher's country:

Country	Registers	Records
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Each register is listed with its own figures on the PEP collection page.

PEP categories

We do not yet classify PEP records by type of office (head of state, minister, legislator, judge, and so on) or by level of government. The role text is kept as published.

To be provided: whether and how we will classify PEP roles, and the category list.

How long a person stays a PEP

Records stay in our data while their register lists them. We do not yet keep people after a register drops them, nor remove people a set time after they leave office.

To be provided: our retention policy after a person leaves office, set against the Canadian rules (domestic PEPs and heads of international organisations for five years after leaving office; foreign PEPs indefinitely) and other jurisdictions'.

To be provided: whether we will exclude records on age or date grounds (for example, people known to have died), and the rules.

Relatives and close associates

We do not hold relatives or close associates of PEPs, and our files have no topic or relationship for them. Screening against our data will not flag a person for being related to or associated with a PEP.

To be provided: whether we will collect relatives and close associates, and from which sources.

Last updated 2026-10-03