FEMA Hoping to Issue Determinations on Most PPE Exports Within Two Days

The Federal Emergency Management Agency plans to issue export control decisions for most shipments of controlled medical equipment within two days, but some shipments may take as long as four days, a FEMA spokesperson said April 21. Some law firms have advised medical equipment exporters to expect delays at ports across the country as FEMA makes those determinations, which involves a review of “letters of attestation” from exporters, who must certify that they qualify for one of several exemptions FEMA issued this week (see 2004200019).

Although FEMA’s notice of exemptions contains a detailed list of conditions exporters must meet to export controlled personal protective equipment, the notice did not indicate how long the agency will take to process those exports. FEMA does not have a “firm mandate” to review the exports within a certain time frame, the spokesperson said, but it is working to set “internal goals” to issue determinations quickly.

A working group composed of officials from FEMA, CBP, the Commerce Department and the State Department will review the letters of attestation “inside a rapid and rigid timeline,” the spokesperson said. That working group will notify exporters once the shipments are cleared or denied, which will happen for “most cases” within one to two days, the spokesperson said. “Export cases requiring special coordination can take up to 96 hours to fully adjudicate pending the impact of certain shipments,” the spokesperson said.

U.S. exporters of PPE should expect delays at CBP ports “around the country,” according to an April 16 alert from Baker Donelson. To mitigate the delays as much as possible, exporters should “build in extra time” for any shipments of PPE, Arent Fox said April 20. The FEMA spokesperson stressed the agency’s “objective is to allow legitimate trade to flow freely.” FEMA hopes CBP’s Automated Commercial Environment and its ability to upload imaged documents will help speed up the process.

To avoid processing delays, exporters should upload their letters of attestation to CBP's document imaging system at the same time their Electronic Export Information is transmitted in the Automated Export System, CBP said in an April 21 CMS message. Exporters can submit letters through the document imaging system electronically through “secure web services, file transfer protocol, or messaging queue,” CBP said. Exporters also can send the letters to docs@cbp.dhs.gov and will receive a “submission status email” if their submission was successful, CBP said.