Effective April 7th, a new temporary rule in the Federal Register bars the export of certain personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators without prior authorization from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The rule indicates the following goods are necessary medical resources to combat COVID-19 and subject to this rule: N95 filtering facepiece respirators; other filtering facepiece respirators (N99, N100, R95, R99, R100, or P95, P99, or P100); elastometric, air-purifying respirators and filters; PPE surgical masks; and PPE gloves or surgical gloves. According to the rule, “no shipments of such designated materials may leave the United States without explicit approval by FEMA.” The rule will remain in place through August 8th and could be expanded to include additional goods.
Prior to export, US Customs and Border Protection will detain these goods, so FEMA can determine if they need to be retained for domestic use. If they are held for domestic use, FEMA will issue a purchase order for the goods. However, FEMA will not procure goods covered by a continuous export agreement that has been in place prior to January 1, 2020, if at least 80% of the manufacturer’s domestic output was distributed in the US in the previous 12 months. This latest measure supports FEMA’s COVID-19 Supply Chain Task Force strategy, which applies a four-prong approach of “Preservation, Acceleration, Expansion, and Allocation” to rapidly increase the supply of these much-needed goods.
Additionally, the rule indicates, “failure to comply fully with this rule is a crime punishable by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.” If you have questions about your exports, please contact Deringer’s Compliance Department.
