AHFA to Host Compliance Workshop About Current Formaldehyde Rule

Furniture World News Desk on 2/1/2023

The American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) will host a workshop on Wednesday, February 15, to assist companies preparing to comply with the last milestone in Title VI of the Toxic Substances Control Act, otherwise known as the formaldehyde rule.

The rule’s final deadline applies to companies that produce or source products consisting of an Environmental Protection Agency-certified hardwood plywood, MDF or particleboard platform with a wood or bamboo laminated veneer. Companies have until March 22, 2024, to switch to a no-added formaldehyde (NAF) or phenol resin for these laminated products.

After that date, companies that have not converted to a NAF or phenol resin will be subject to all record-keeping and third-party certification requirements currently applied only to panel producers.

Registration for the 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. workshop is $200 per person and includes lunch. A virtual attendance option is $100. (AHFA members should consult the registration page for reduced rates.) The workshop will be held at the Guilford Technical Community College Conference Center in Colfax, N.C. The deadline for in-person registration is Tuesday, January 31. AHFA members and non-members can register at www.ahfa.us/event-template/formaldehyde-rule-workshop.

A key feature of the February 15 workshop will be a panel of leading adhesive producers invited to discuss new and emerging resin technologies. Participants include Akzo Nobel Wood Adhesives, Franklin Adhesives & Polymers, H.B. Fuller Company and Hexion Inc.

Also on the agenda is Robert Courtnage, lead physical scientist in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention; Travis Snapp, Joel Oser and Chris Battin, all of Benchmark International; and Michael Sullivan of Womble Bond Dickinson.

Courtnage will present “From Fabricator to Producer,” an overview of provisions in the federal rule pertaining to laminated product manufacturers and importers, which are called “fabricators” in the formaldehyde rule.

Snapp, Oser and Battin will follow up with specific action items fabricators should be taking to meet the March 2024 compliance deadline, while Sullivan will outline supply chain strategies as part of a comprehensive compliance program. The workshop will conclude with a question and answer session to ensure attendees depart with the information they need for a compliance action plan.

Recapping TSCA Title VI:  The Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act was signed into law to become Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Title VI in July 2010.
TSCA Title VI established formaldehyde emission limits designed to reduce exposure to formaldehyde in certain wood products produced in or imported into the United States. The emission limits in Title VI are identical to those established by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2007 and fully implemented in California by July 2012.

Title VI directed the EPA to develop regulations to ensure compliance with the formaldehyde emission limits. Those regulations set forth a series of compliance deadlines, beginning in May 2017 and ending with the March 22, 2024, deadline for laminated products.

EPA gave the industry a seven-year window for laminated products to allow producers and stakeholders time to petition for an exemption from the emission limits OR to develop alternative (NAF or phenol resin) glues to ensure laminated products met the emission limits.

About AHFA: The American Home Furnishings Alliance, based in High Point, N.C., represents more than 200 leading furniture manufacturers and distributors, plus about 150 suppliers to the furniture industry worldwide.