Skip to content
The COVID Project
  1. Library
  2. Other federal health agencies
  3. AGY-FED-HEALTH-OTHER-044

Ex. AGY-FED-HEALTH-OTHER-044 Context (guidance or announcement) Confirmed from a secondary source

Guidance: Enforcement Policy for Face Masks and Respirators During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency (Mar. 25, 2020; revised Apr. 2020, May 2020, Sept. 2021; superseded Sept. 5, 2023)

Enforcement Policy for Face Masks and Respirators During the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency

Food and Drug Administration, CDRH · United States (federal); Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health (Federal)

The COVID Project
Context, not an order

This record is guidance or an announcement kept for context. It is not counted among the orders in force.

The record

Jurisdiction
United States (federal); Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health
Level
Federal
Authority
FD&C Act ss. 510(k), 519, 520(f), 564; 21 C.F.R. 878.4040; enforcement discretion
Issued
2020-03-25 Mar. 25, 2020
Effective
2020-03-25 (immediately in effect) (read as 2020-03-25)
End
Superseded by the Sept. 5, 2023 policy; in force throughout 2020-2021 (read as 2023-09-05)
In force
Mar. 25, 2020 to Sept. 5, 2023
Quarters
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q42021 Q12021 Q22021 Q3
Limitation types
Face-covering requirementSupply chainOther
Addressees
  • manufacturers, importers and distributors of face masks, face shields and respirators
Functions reached
  • SC supply chain (masks)
  • PF production floor (converted apparel and textile lines)
  • IC infection control
Character
context
Collection
Other federal health agencies AGY-FED-HEALTH-OTHER

Operative words

This policy is intended to remain in effect only for the duration of the public health emergency related to COVID-19... FDA does not intend to object to the distribution and use of face masks, with or without a face shield... that are intended for a medical purpose... without compliance with... premarket notification requirements... where the face mask does not create an undue risk

Enforcement

Enforcement discretion under 21 U.S.C. 331 for the listed premarket, registration and labeling requirements

Notes

The saved file is FDA's Sept. 5, 2023 superseding version, which recites the March 2020 policy's history;

Retrieval note

Operative clause quoted from the 2020 policy as reproduced in the successor document's recitals and the May 12, 2020 FR notice (Ex. 033); downgraded to verified_secondary because the March 2020 text itself was not read. Cite it as context and cite the underlying order, statute or emergency rule it describes as the instrument. (Bulletins whose operative text imposes a mandatory duty on licensees under the regulator's own authority are excluded from this downgrade and listed separately for review.)).