The importer is considered to be the manufacturer in case something bad happens, caused by the product. Meaning, worst case,you import a mask. It fails. Patients in the practice you supplied the mask to get infected and some die. Now we are talking tens of millions.

I asked the Allianz and Munich Re (the insurers insurer). Both declined to insure that at the moment.

Which sucks. Because the gap between FOB and DDP would otherwise just be logistics. Ignoring prices, that is rather easy to solve. I try to get hold of someone at the armed forces department charged with that. Hopefully it leads somewhere.

EDIT: Product liability is th problem. Transport insurance is easy to obtain and no problem.

Yeah speaking of that: https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-netherlands-recalls-defect...

Imagine to be a e-commerce launching itself into masks now. Without insurance, proper due Diligence of suppliers and potentially no way to track batch numbers. And then something like that happens. You are in for a lot of pain.

Apparently you can get coverage, or rather a waiver, from the government if you are a non-profit.

As a side note, the government is now seriously launching itself into procurement. For example German states are starting procurement themselves.