Back in April, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) began restricting exports for certain personal protective equipment (PPE) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although they will continue to restrict exports, they have announced a revised list of PPE subject to these restrictions, effective August 10, 2020.
According to the notice, FEMA will continue to limit exports of N95 “Filtering Facepiece Respirators,” but will only restrict “surgical” respirators and not industrial ones. Restrictions will also continue for surgical masks and gloves, but there will be a more narrowed scope of gloves to cover only “PPE nitrile gloves.” FEMA will also add two new categories of PPE for control: certain “Level 3 and 4 Surgical Gowns and Surgical Isolation Gowns.”
The agency will end export restrictions on two categories of PPE: “filtering facepiece respirators” and “elastomeric, air-purifying respirators and appropriate particulate filters/ cartridges.” FEMA said there is “low demand” for both categories and the agency “has been able to fill all orders that have been placed for these items in the past 45 days.”
FEMA continues to work with other agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), to review exports that may fall under these restrictions. If you have questions on these changes and how they impact your exports, please reach out to your Mohawk Global customer service representative.