Updated guidance on the allocation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

Updated guidance on the allocation of Personal Protective Equipment PPE

On April 9, 2020, Customs and Border Protection issued updated guidance on the allocation of certain PPE and medical resources in relation to COVID-19, specific to N95 respirators, other filtering respirators, elastomeric air-purifying respirators, PPE surgical masks, PPE gloves or surgical gloves.

FEMA has clarified the basis of their efforts are focused on commercial quantities, which is defined as shipments with a value of over $2500 and containing more than 10,000 units of the items listed above.

The below exceptions for export have also been made to the Presidential Memorandum Regarding Allocating Certain Scarce or Threatened Health and Medical Resources to Domestic Use: 

Exports to Canada and Mexico
Exports to U.S. Government Agencies and Entities
Exports by U.S. Charities
Exports by Critical Infrastructure industries for the protection of their workers
Exports by 3M company
Express or Mail shipments that do not meed the commercial quantities above
In-Transit Shipments
For shipments that are exported and do not meet any of the exceptions listed above, document reviews will be conducted by the specific Ports of Export when AES is filed.

The full guidance is available here.