Public Education by HSA on Identifying Medical and Surgical Masks Meeting EN 14683/ASTM F2100 Standards and Requirement for e-commerce Platforms to Ensure Masks Sold Meet Standards

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Health (a) whether HSA will consider public education for Singaporeans on identifying medical and surgical masks that meet the EN 14683 / ASTM F2100 standards; and (b) whether HSA will require e-commerce platforms to check that the surgical masks that they sell are of the necessary standard.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: HSA has published a guideline titled “What you need to know about masks” which provides information on the specifications of good quality medical and surgical masks. HSA also licenses manufacturers of medical and surgical masks, which requires them to meet standards, such as the EN 14683 or ASTM F2100, which are adopted by the European Union and USA respectively. A list of locally manufactured medical and surgical masks that have been tested and verified to meet these standards has also been published by HSA on their website.

Importers of medical and surgical masks are required to notify HSA and submit test reports to show that their products meet a minimum bacterial filtration efficiency based on the EN 14683 or ASTM F2100. HSA also engages the various e-commerce platform administrators on an on-going basis, to check on the vendors selling medical and surgical masks on their platforms, and ensure that the masks on sale are from HSA licensed local manufacturers, or importers with evidence of import notification to HSA.