NEW DEADLINE TO REQUEST EXEMPTIONS TO OPERATE CERTAIN BUSINESSES – FRIDAY APRIL 3, 2020 AT 5:00 P.M.

4/2/2020 | Articles & Alerts, News & Resources

Governor Wolf’s FAQ’s for Life-Sustaining Businesses were updated again on April 1, 2020.

Importantly, the revised FAQ’s now state in # 2 that: “All exemption requests MUST be submitted no later than 5:00P.M. on Friday April 3, 2020.” Therefore, if you believe your business or project would qualify for an exemption from the order closing various businesses, you must file for an exemption by the new deadline.

If your business is not on the list of “Life-Sustaining” businesses that may continue operations during the COVID-19 Emergency Declaration issued by the Governor you may be eligible for an exemption from the order. In order to operate your business you must file for an exemption not later than 5:00P.M. on Friday April 3, 2020. Exemptions are generally available for operations that provide goods or services deemed necessary to maintain operations of a business on the life-sustaining list.

FAQ # 1 indicates that your business classification under the NAICS classification system controls in determining whether your business is considered life-sustaining and that in considering exemption requests guidance from the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (“CISA”) in its publication “Identifying Critical Infrastructure During COVID-19” (version 1.1, dated 3/19/20, revised 3/23/20)(“CISA Advisory”) is being utilized. The CISA Advisory identifies “critical infrastructure categories”. Pennsylvania has not yet accepted later revisions of the CISA Advisory which expanded the list of critical infrastructure categories.

 George W. Broseman, Esquire
 gbroseman@kaplaw.com
 610-941-2459

Kevin G. Amadio, Esquire
kamadio@kaplaw.com 
610-941-2533