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FEMA Issues Scarce PPE Export Rule

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has issued a Temporary Final Rule to allocate certain Personal Protective Material (PPE) for domestic use, so that these materials may not be exported from the United States without explicit approval by FEMA. The Rule is published pursuant to the President’s Memorandum as of April 3 and covers five types of PPE, outlined below:

  • N-95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators;
  • Other Face Filtering Facepiece Respirators (N99, N00, R95, R99, R100, P95, P99, and P100);
  • Elastomeric, air-purifying respirators and appropriate particulate filters/cartridges;
  • PPE surgical masks; and
  • PPE gloves or surgical gloves.

The rule authorizes Customs and Border Protection to detain any shipment intended for export of the covered materials until FEMA determines whether to return the shipment for domestic use, allow the export of all or part of the order in the interest of national defense or issue a rated order against the PPE.

In making its determination FEMA may consult other agencies and will review factors such as:

  1. the need to ensure that scarce or threatened items are appropriately allocated for domestic use;
  2. minimization of disruption to the supply chain, both domestically and abroad;
  3. the circumstances surrounding the distribution of the materials and potential hoarding or price gouging concerns;
  4. the quantity and quality of the materials;
  5. humanitarian considerations; and
  6. international relations and diplomatic considerations.

A determination will be made by FEMA “quickly” and “within a reasonable time of being notified of an intended shipment.”

The Rule contains an exemption to address certain pre-existing commercial relationships. It covers material shipments made by or on behalf of U.S. manufacturers with continuous export agreements with customers in other countries since at least January 1, 2020, provided that at least 80% of the manufacturer’s domestic production of covered material was distributed in the U.S. in the preceding 12 months.

 Those violating the rule may be subject to a fine up to $10,000, imprisonment for up to one year, and/or an injunction. In addition, the rule provides for penalties pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 554 (Smuggling Goods from the United States), which provides for a penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine.

This rule is effective from April 7, 2020 until August 10, 2020.

If you have any questions regarding the impact of the coronavirus to your supply chain or need to develop a contingency plan, please contact your Allyn International account manager or email sales@allynintl.com.

Contributor: Maria Yelinek


About Allyn International

Allyn International is dedicated to providing high quality, customer-centric services and solutions for the global marketplace. Allyn's core products include transportation management, logistics sourcing, freight forwarding, supply chain consulting, tax management and global trade compliance. Allyn clients range from small local businesses to Fortune 500 firms. Allyn conducts business in more than 20 languages and has extensive experience in both developed and emerging markets. Highly trained experts are positioned throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. Allyn’s regional headquarters are strategically located in Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.A., Shanghai, P.R. China, Prague, Czech Republic, and Dubai, U.A.E. For more information, visit www.allynintl.com.

 

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