On April 21, 2020, the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) published in the Federal Register a notice of exemptions from the allocation order issued through a Temporary Final Rule (TFR) published on April 10, 2020. The intent of the allocation order is to ensure that materials subject to the Presidential Memorandum (PM) regarding allocating certain scarce or threatened personal protective equipment (PPE) materials (covered materials) remain in the United States for use in responding to the spread of COVID-19, and to prevent domestic brokers, distributors, and other intermediaries from diverting such covered materials overseas.
Covered materials are defined in the FRN which can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/04/21/2020-08542/prioritization-and-allocation-of-certain-scarce-or-threatened-health-and-medical-resources-for and may be summarized as:
- N-95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators,
- Other Filtering Facepiece Respirators (N99, N100, R95, R99, R100, or P95, P99, P100),
- Elastomeric, air-purifying respirators and appropriate particulate filters/cartridges;
- PPE surgical masks,
- PPE gloves or surgical gloves