Information regarding the supply of PPE related to SARS-CoV-2

Please find below an official communication received from our Management Board in Germany in relation to the recent directive from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs in relation to SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus.

At this challenging time, the uvex safety group and UVEX SAFETY (UK) Ltd are doing all we can to maintain continuity of supply to our valued customers. However, this is becoming increasingly challenging as the extent of this epidemiological crisis escalates.

UVEX SAFETY (UK) Ltd does hold its own stock and will continue to manage this to the best of our ability, ensuring organic demand is maintained as much as possible.

Please be assured we are doing all we can to minimise the effects on our partners / customers. No doubt there will be questions and queries emanating over the coming days and weeks. If this is the case, please do not hesitate to contact your uvex regional manager.


The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has restricted the export of certain goods from the personal protective equipment category as a result of the epidemiological crisis triggered by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

The export and shipment of the following goods have been prohibited with immediate effect:

  • Goggles – EN166 / ANSI / ISEA Z87.1
  • Face Shields - EN166 / ANSI / ISEA Z87.1
  • Filtering face pieces – EN 149 FFP2 / FFP3
  • Protective suits – EN13795 / AAMI PB level 3 performance or higher
  • Gloves – EN455 / EN374 / ANSI/ISEA 105 / ASTM D6319

This Directive came into effect at the time of publication on March 4th 2020. The Federal Republic of Germany is justifying this step in the follow terms:

Meeting demand for the goods in question is essential to ensure the health system in Germany continues to function properly in the Federal Republic of Germany. The goods described above count as clinical protective equipment designed for infectious disease scenarios, both to prevent transmission to clinical personnel and to protect the healthy population against infection by those that are sick. Due to the epidemiological crisis triggered by the SARS – CoV – 2 coronavirus in many countries, there has been a significant increase in global demand for clinical protective equipment, including the goods referred to above.

Given the increase in the number of confirmed infections within the European Union and the Federal Republic of Germany, domestic demand for these goods is understandably increasing. While demand continues to rise, production capacities at local, regional and national levels are limited and no longer sufficient to respond to the change in demand impacting on the healthcare sector which is already having to contend with significant bottlenecks. It is already impossible to meet demand from hospitals, doctors and pharmacies either in full or sufficiently quickly and with the number of cases increasing in Germany there is a genuine risk of shortages.

We are very sorry to have to stop all supplies of the aforementioned products until such time that this directive is suspended.

The management of UVEX SAFETY GROUP Gmbh & Co. KG