Issues Relating to the Export of Personal Protective Equipment
Client Alert
The Export Compliance Committee of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) has been working hard to keep up with the various governmental requirements pertaining to the export of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). For those of you who are not members of the NCBFAA, we thought that you might be interested in seeing the latest guidance on this topic.
On April 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) published a memorandum to the ports to provide guidance and clarification on the April 5 Presidential Memorandum regarding the allocation of scarce or threatened health and medical resources, as well on the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Temporary Final Rule (TFR) on the restriction of export of certain PPE.
According to the memo and the FEMA TFR, the PPE that are considered scarce or threatened are:
- N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators, including devices that are disposable half-face-piece non-powered air-purifying particulate respirators intended for use to cover the nose and mouth of the wearer to help reduce wearer exposure to pathogenic biological airborne particulates;
- Other Filtering Facepiece Respirators (e.g., those designated as N99, N100, R95, R99, R100, or P95, P99, P100), including single-use, disposable half-mask respiratory protective devices that cover the user's airway (nose and mouth) and offer protection from particulate materials at an N95 filtration efficiency level per 42 CFR 84.181;
- Elastomeric, air-purifying respirators and appropriate particulate filters/cartridges;
- PPE surgical masks, including masks that cover the user's nose and mouth, and provide a physical barrier to fluids and particulate material;
- PPE gloves or surgical gloves, including those defined as 21 CFR 880.6250 (exam gloves) and 878.4460 (surgical gloves), and such gloves intended for the same purposes.
This will be applied to the above PPE valued at $2,500 and above and containing 10,000 units or more, with the following exceptions:
- Exports to Canada or Mexico;
- Exports to U.S. Government entities such as U.S. military bases overseas;
- Exports by U.S. Government agencies;
- Exports by U.S. charities;
- Exports by critical infrastructure industries for the protection of their workers;
- Exports by the 3M Company;
- Express or Mail Parcels that do not meet the commercial quantity definition above;
- In-transit shipments.
CBP will primarily use the Electronic Export Interface (EEI) also known as the Automated Export System (AES) filing to target these shipments, will hold any identified shipments and refer the shipment to FEMA for ultimate disposition. This process is effective immediately.
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We understand that FEMA sent out a note to companies it deemed to be key business stakeholders last night that provided guidance on facilitating the export process. Among other things, FEMA indicated that exporters should submit letters on their letterhead, along with the AES submissions, attesting to why the proposed export falls within the exclusions and should be exempted from the FEMA determination process. We know that the NCBFAA is continuing to work to make the process as transparent as possible, and we will provide more information on this as soon as it becomes publicly available.
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Finally, the NCBFAA is continuing to send a series of questions to CBP concerning the implementation of the regulations pertaining to the import and export process for PPEs. Once CBP provides answers to those questions, we will pass those along as well.
We hope that this is helpful but would be pleased to try to answer any additional questions you might have.