The Federal Emergency Management Agency has exempted the following from its temporary rule prohibiting through Aug. 10 exports of specific types of personal protective equipment without explicit FEMA approval.
- shipments to U.S. commonwealths and territories, including Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (including minor outlying islands)
- exports by non-profit or non-governmental organizations solely for donation to foreign charities or governments for free distribution (not sale) at their destination(s)*
- intracompany transfers by U.S. companies from domestic facilities to company-owned or -affiliated foreign facilities*
- shipments exported solely for assembly in medical kits and diagnostic testing kits destined for U.S. sale and delivery*
- sealed, sterile medical kits and diagnostic testing kits where only a portion of the kit is made up of one or more covered materials that cannot be easily removed without damaging the kits
- declared diplomatic shipments from foreign embassies and consulates to their home countries (may be shipped via intermediaries (logistics providers) but are shipped from and consigned to foreign governments)
- shipments to overseas U.S. military addresses, foreign service posts (e.g., diplomatic post offices), and embassies
- shipments in transit through the U.S. with a foreign shipper and consignee, including shipments temporarily entered into a warehouse or temporarily admitted to a foreign-trade zone*
- shipments for which the final destination is Canada or Mexico*
- shipments by or on behalf of the U.S. federal government, including its military
For exemptions marked with an asterisk (*) above, a letter of attestation certifying the purpose of the shipment must be submitted to FEMA via CBP’s document imaging system and placed on file with CBP. The letter should contain (1) a description of which exemption(s) the exporter is claiming, (2) details regarding the shipment that are sufficient for CBP and FEMA to determine whether the shipment falls under the claimed exemption(s), and (3) a statement that the provided information is true and accurate to the best of the exporter’s knowledge and that the exporter is aware that false information is subject to prosecution.
FEMA states that it may waive any of these exemptions at any time. In addition, if CBP believes that any manufacturer, broker, distributor, exporter, or shipper of any covered materials is intentionally modifying its shipments in a way to take advantage of one or more of these exemptions, diverting materials from the U.S. market, or otherwise trying to circumvent the FEMA review requirements through application of any of the exemptions, CBP may detain a shipment and forward information about it to FEMA for determination.
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