On March 24, 2020 the New York Field Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued Informational Pipeline 20-001-NYFO concerning Imports of Pandemic Response Materials in response to increased COVID-19 cases in the greater New York City area and across the nation. The Pipeline indicated that many of these shipments are legitimate, but also noted that other shipments involve “nefarious actors” seeking to profit off of vulnerable segments of the population.

In order to expedite the legitimate COVID-19 response shipments, CBP’s New York Field Office is encouraging importers and their agents to provide advance notification to Customs with respect to these materials. The advance notification is encouraged for all types of pandemic response goods (pharmaceutical products, personal protective equipment, building supplies, etc.) and applies to goods in-transit (in the air or on the water) as well as goods that have already arrived (and especially for arrived goods that CBP has placed on hold).

The Pipeline provides telephone numbers for JFK Airport and the NY/NJ Seaport, but recommends providing the notification via email to the port or to the appropriate Center of Excellence and Expertise and lists email addresses for those contacts as well.