UK confirms furniture regulations recast

The new UK Government has confirmed it will rewrite the UK 1988 Furniture Fire Safety Regulations to modernise safety. The Government reaffirms that the Regulations have contributed significantly to protecting the public but need updating, in particular to enable innovation and the circular economy, and that it is working on the basis of the proposals published for consultation in 2023 (analysis in pinfa Newsletter n°152). Aims include to reduce volumes of flame retardants used. Aspects which will be considered include second-hand furniture refurbishing, ensuring fire safety of natural materials used in furniture, information and traceability of chemicals (to support end-of-life management), furniture labelling, implementation and enforcement, exclusion from the Regulations of smaller items and of baby and children’s products. Ongoing assessment will include a possible “flame retardant technology hierarchy”: pinfa understands that the initial proposal (see summary in pinfa Newsletter n°152) will be reconsidered because of possible legal contradictions with chemical regulations. The exclusion of products for babies and children’s products, and labelling and technical legal modifications, will be implemented in coming months by amendment of the existing 1988 Regulation. Other proposals will be developed in dialogue with stakeholders before the end of 2025.

The BSI (British Standards Institution) Committee FW/6 is working on proposals for ‘final item testing’ which is part of the Government proposals, but this is complex and progress is slow, and small-scale composite testing will also be necessary.

“Progress update issued on review of furniture fire safety regulations”, UK Government, 27 January 2025 https://www.fsmatters.com/Progress-update-issued-on-furniture-regs-review

BSI (British Standards Institution) FW/6 (Flammability performance and fire tests for furniture) https://standardsdevelopment.bsigroup.com/committees/50001727