Import Permit Policy Statement:
Date and Conditions of the Import Permit

Date: February 5, 2021

Subject: Import Permit Policy Statement: Date and Conditions of the Import Permit

This policy statement replaces the previous policy statement dated June 11, 2014.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Import Permit Program regulates the importation of infectious biological agents, infectious substances, and vectors of human disease into the United States.

Authority:

Under the authority of section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. §264), the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is authorized to make and enforce regulations to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and from one State into any other State. The Foreign Quarantine regulations (42 CFR Part 71) set forth provisions to prevent the introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable disease from foreign countries into the United States. Part 71, Subpart F (Importations) contains provisions for importation of etiological agents, hosts, and vectors (42 CFR §71.54), requiring persons to obtain a permit issued by the CDC before importing, or distributing after import, any of these materials.

Section 71.54(d) of these regulations provides that the CDC permit is valid only for: (1) the time period and/or term indicated on the permit, and (2) only for so long as the permit conditions continue to be met.

Policy Statement:

The issuance and expiration dates listed on the CDC import permit are only applicable to the window of time during which an import permit holder may actually import the infectious biological agents, infectious substances, and vectors listed on the import permit into the United States. The conditions for importation and continued possession listed on the CDC permit remain in effect until the importer is no longer in possession of the imported material.