California extends formaldehyde deadline to Dec. 31, 2011
July 13, 2010 Heath E Combs -- Furniture Today, July 13, 2010
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Air Resources Board has granted a
one-year extension of to sell-though dates to give retailers another
year to clear inventories that don't comply with the first phase of the
state's strict new formaldehyde emission standards.
The standards
affect composite panel, a commonly used product in wood furniture and
upholstery frames.
Distributors and fabricators of finished goods,
along with furniture retailers in California, now have until Dec. 31,
2011, to clear out non-compliant inventories, an agency advisory said.
CARB
will not enforce the sell-through dates for finished goods made with
pre-Phase 1 panels until after that date. The non-compliant inventories
contain composite wood product panels that were manufactured before Jan.
1, 2009.
For importers, however, the enforcement delay for
pre-Phase 1 finished goods will expire on Dec. 31, 2010. Officials with
the American Home Furnishings Alliance said that CARB did not include
importers in the extension as a measure to stop the flow of
non-compliant goods into the state.
The latest extension
is the second one granted by the board. The previous deadline was Dec.
31, 2010, which was an extension of the original date of July 1, 2010.
The
extension takes care of a concern some furniture retailers voiced -
that they would have to replace floor samples twice. Since the extension
ends when the second phase of formaldehyde limits will begin, with
tighter restrictions on emissions, retailers will only have to replace
their floor samples with items that contain Phase II board.
CARB
said the extension was made to address excess inventories that have sold
slowly due to the recession and slow sales.
The California
standard began implementation last year.
Last week, a national
formaldehyde standard similar to that in place in California was signed
into law by President Obama after passing the U.S. House and Senate last
month. It is the first national formaldehyde standard for composite
panel. It says that by Jan. 1, 2013, products sold in the United States
would have to meet a formaldehyde emission standards of about 0.09 parts
per million, which would be the toughest standard in the world,
according to the bill's backers. -Furniture Today
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