29 May Is Your Retailer Ready for New Formaldehyde Rules?
National standard for composite wood products and products that contain them goes into effect June 1, 2018
Three years have passed since complaints erupted on 60 Minutes about excessive amounts of formaldehyde emitted by some laminate flooring products that were sold by Lumber Liquidators.
60 Minutes reported that some of these products did not comply with California Air Resources Board Phase II (CARB II) limits for formaldehyde, which only applied in the state of California. At the time, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it was working on making CARB II limits a national standard that would close a gap in the existing rule: Instead of applying only to composite wood products, it also would regulate finished products that contain composite wood products.The national rule is Toxic Substances Control Act Title VI (TSCA Title VI). According to a recent EPA news release:
• By June 1, 2018, regulated composite wood panels and finished products containing composite wood panels manufactured in the United States or imported into the United States must be certified as compliant with either the TSCA Title VI or the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Airborne Toxic Control Measures (ATCM) Phase II emission standards, which are set at identical levels. Certification must be done by a third-party certifier approved by CARB and recognized by the EPA.
• Until March 22, 2019, regulated products certified as compliant with the CARB ATCM Phase II emission standards must be labeled as compliant with either the TSCA Title VI or the CARB ATCM Phase II emission standards. Regulated products manufactured in or imported into the United States after March 22, 2019 may not rely on the CARB II certification and must be certified and labeled as TSCA Title VI compliant by an EPA TSCA Title VI-approved third-party certifier.
To read more from the EPA about formaldehyde, click here. For more information about compliance dates, click here.
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Posted at 01:31h, 28 August[…] determines a product can be dangerous, and enacts a new safety law, such as in 2018 when a national formaldehyde limit was set for composite wood products. Formaldehyde is a VOC, and a known […]