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From Home Furnishing Business
EPA Extends Deadline for Formaldehyde Emissions Compliance
September 8,
2017 by Larry Thomas in Green, Industry 
The Environmental Protection Agency has extended the deadline for compliance with its new formaldehyde emissions standards for composite wood products by one year to Dec. 12, 2018.
According to the America Home Furnishings Alliance, the new deadline applies to the emissions standards, record keeping and labeling sections of the new rules.
In addition, AHFA said compliance dates for other provisions of the rule have been extended by approximately three months. These include:
- the date for complying with import certification provisions is moved from Dec. 12, 2018 to March 22, 2019;
- the date for complying with laminated product producer provisions is moved from Dec. 12, 2023 to March 22, 2024;
- the conclusion of the transition period for CARB Third-Party Certifiers (TPCs) is moved from Dec. 12, 2018 to March 22, 2019.
In a preliminary notice of the deadline changes, the EPA said this last amendment to the rule “adds needed regulatory flexibility for regulated entities, reduces compliance burdens and helps to prevent disruptions to supply chains while still ensuring that compliant composite wood products enter the supply chain in a timely manner.”
Bill Purdue, AHFA's vice president of regulatory affairs, said discussions about formaldehyde emissions rules have been ongoing since 2001, when AHFA staff attended the first industry stakeholder meeting in California when state officials there began examining possible emissions rules.
"Those meetings eventually resulted in emission standards adopted by the California Air Resources Board in 2008, which formed the foundation for emission standards adopted by the U.S. Congress in 2010, which led to the EPA’s implementation rule published in December 2016 and, now, finally, finalized in September 2017," Purdue recounted.
Perdue urged industry executives with any questions about the final rule to attend AHFA’s 2017 Regulatory Summit Oct. 25 at The Conference Center at Guilford Technical Community College. Erik Winchester, who heads the EPA branch responsible for implementing the formaldehyde rule, will provide an overview of the recent amendments and entertain questions about the newly revised compliance timeline.
Registration details for the Regulatory Summit are available at www.ahfa.us under Upcoming Events.