FEMA Renews, Revises List of Restricted PPE Exports

The Federal Emergency Management Agency will continue export restrictions on an amended list of personal protective equipment through Dec. 31, the agency said in a notice released Aug. 6. The restrictions, which were scheduled to expire this month, now cover four categories of items, including certain respirators, masks, gloves and surgical gowns -- a decrease from the six categories FEMA has restricted since April. The changes take effect Aug. 10.

FEMA will continue to limit exports of N95 “Filtering Facepiece Respirators,” the agency said, but will only restrict “surgical” respirators and not industrial ones. It will also continue restrictions on surgical masks and gloves, but will narrow the scope of gloves to cover only “PPE nitrile gloves.” The agency will also add two new categories of PPE for control: certain “Level 3 and 4 Surgical Gowns and Surgical Isolation Gowns.”

Demand for those categories of goods continues to outpace supply, the agency said. As of Aug. 4, FEMA said it had “open requests” from state, local, tribal and territorial jurisdictions for more than 6 million N95 respirators for medical use, 28 million surgical masks, 139 million nitrile gloves and 11 million surgical gowns.

The agency will end export restrictions on two categories of PPE that were previously controlled: “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 will continue to work with other agencies, including CBP, to examine exports that may be captured under the restrictions. The agency said it “will continue to make such a determination within a reasonable time of being notified of an intended shipment … to minimize disruptions to the supply chain.” FEMA will also apply the same exemptions outlined earlier this year (see 2004200019).

The agency said it did not announce a public comment period for the rule because it did not have time to wait for industry feedback. “In short, given the national and international emergency caused by COVID-19 and the continuously evolving nature of the situation, FEMA finds that urgent and compelling circumstances have made it impracticable … to delay these implementing regulations until a full public notice-and-comment process is completed,” the agency said.