Know which items can ship before they reach the border.

Zonos Restrict is an AI-powered item restriction API that determines whether a specific item can be shipped between two countries. It checks against import and export regulations from around the world, returning each applicable restriction with a plain-language category (like "Documentation required" or "Dangerous goods") and a confidence score.

Restrict requires the item's name, description, HS code, ship-from country, and ship-to country. Optional fields—including materials, category, and brand—help narrow results and improve accuracy. The more detail provided, the more precise the output.

Each applicable restriction comes back labeled with a category—such as "Documentation required" or "Dangerous goods"—that describes the nature of the rule. The label gives your team and your systems immediate context for what action to take, without having to parse raw regulatory text.

Restrict is approximately 80x more accurate than HS-code-only matching, achieved through a multi-step AI pipeline of semantic search, restriction refinement, and confidence scoring—continuously improved by real-world feedback.

Restrict focuses on item-level compliance: whether a specific product can be shipped to a specific destination based on its HS code, description, and physical properties. Greenlight focuses on export compliance at the shipment level, running five checks—including denied party screening, restricted party lists, and embargoed country checks—in a single API call. The two products complement each other and can be used together for end-to-end compliance coverage.

Restrict is available via the Zonos API and is built into Zonos Checkout. Merchants can also configure item restriction rules directly in the Zonos Dashboard—blocking checkout for restricted items by destination country without writing additional code.