Switzerland Seeing 'Large Quantities' of Illegally Imported Face Masks

Switzerland launched a campaign to target illegal imports of medical masks after seeing an increase in “non-conforming” masks entering the country, its Federal Customs Administration said in an Oct. 6 notice. The campaign, completed earlier this year, included inspections on 29 shipments containing more than 34 million face masks. About one-third of the shipments didn't conform, Switzerland said, with deficiencies including missing conformity markings on packaging, missing addresses, incomplete information on the packaging, a lack of test results that proved the masks were conforming and masks that were not tested in an “accredited” laboratory. The campaign resulted in five “administrative proceedings” by Switzerland Customs, including a ban on certain mask shipments. “The results of the operation showed that fairly large quantities of non-conforming medical face masks were circulating on the Swiss market,” the notice said.