FDA plays a critical role in protecting the United States from threats such as emerging infectious diseases, including the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. FDA is committed to providing timely guidance to support response efforts to this pandemic. 

FDA is issuing this guidance to provide recommendations for sponsors of decontamination and bioburden reduction systems about what information should be included in a pre-Emergency Use Authorization (pre-EUA) and/or EUA request to help facilitate FDA’s efficient review of such request. This guidance provides these recommendations based on the device’s intended use with respect to the level (tier) of decontamination or bioburden reduction, based on the sponsor’s available data. Decontamination and bioburden reduction systems play an important role in the ongoing efforts to help address shortages of surgical masks and respirators intended for a medical purpose during COVID-19 or reduce the bioburden of surgical masks and filtering facepiece respirators (including N95 respirators) used as personal protective equipment (PPE) by healthcare personnel (hereinafter, “surgical masks and respirators”) for the duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

This policy is intended to remain in effect only for the duration of the public health emergency related to COVID-19 declared by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on January 31, 2020, effective January 27, 2020, including any renewals made by the HHS Secretary in accordance with section 319(a)(2) of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d(a)(2)).

Given this public health emergency, and as discussed in the Notice in the Federal Register of March 25, 2020, titled “Process for Making Available Guidance Documents Related to Coronavirus Disease 2019,” available at https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2020-03-25/pdf/2020-06222.pdf, this guidance is being implemented without prior public comment because FDA has determined that prior public participation for this guidance is not feasible or appropriate (see section 701(h)(1)(C) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) (21 U.S.C. 371(h)(1)(C)) and 21 CFR 10.115(g)(2)). This guidance document is being implemented immediately, but it remains subject to comment in accordance with the Agency’s good guidance practices.