California extends formaldehyde deadlines six months

Retailers have more time to clear non-compliant inventory

Heath E. Combs -- Furniture Today, November 13, 2009

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Air Resources Board has granted a six-month extension to give furniture retailers more time to clear inventories that don't comply with the first phase of the state's strict new formaldehyde emission standards.

The formaldehyde standards affect composite panel, a commonly used product in wood furniture and upholstery frames.

Distributors, importers and fabricators of finished goods, along with furniture retailers in California, now have until Dec. 31, 2010, to clear out non-compliant inventories, an agency advisory said. Previously, the sell-through was set to end July 1.

Extended sell-through periods were granted across the spectrum of the composite panel industry affected by the new formaldehyde rule, which the state started phasing in on Jan. 1.

The extension gives some categories an additional 19 months from what was originally set as the sell-through dates.

State officials granted the extension because of the economic slowdown, which has made it difficult to clear all the inventory on hand, the advisory said.

The agency issued its first four-month sell through extension in May to composite panel distributors.

"Based on information from affected associations and specific businesses, as well as (the Air Resources Board's) distributor survey, ARB staff has concluded that the four-month delay was not long enough to solve the problem," the advisory said.

The agency said the extension only affects sell-through dates, and its delay is not meant to encourage increased import and sale of non-compliant product.

A national rule similar to California's was introduced into the U.S. Senate in September. It would give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency responsibility for testing, certification, recordkeeping and enforcement and would add a new section to the federal Toxic Substances Control Act. It would require the EPA to enact a national rule by 2011.