The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) has provided a progress update from the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets on the Government’s review of the fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture.
The policy paper sets out the initial changes it will make to amend the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (the FFRs), and its ongoing plans.
While the FFRs were introduced in response to the increasing number of furniture fire-related deaths, they require updating to keep pace with product innovation, says the OPSS: "Since 1988, evidence has also emerged of the risks associated with chemical flame retardants used to pass flammability tests."
The policy paper outlines the Government’s proposed new regulatory approach, highlights areas of broad stakeholder consensus and provides an update on outstanding challenges.
The OPSS says it will work with businesses, trade associations and other key stakeholders to finalise the key elements of the policy.
"Our reforms must be ambitious and reconcile complex and competing challenges, to keep consumers safe," writes MP Justin Madders in the report's foreword. "I am pleased to set out today the action the Government is taking now to address concerns about chemical flame retardants in baby and children’s products, without compromising on fire safety. We will make these changes alongside amendments to labelling requirements and enforcement provisions.
"These changes represent the first steps to reforming the way in which upholstered furniture is regulated. Later this year, following further stakeholder engagement, I intend to go further, setting out final positions and clear timelines for implementing a new regulatory approach in full and for the publication of new British Standards to support businesses to comply with it."
The Government is taking some immediate action to amend the FFRs, based on evidence collected in consultation responses. Changes to the existing legislation will be made as soon as parliamentary time allows and will take effect six months later, in line with obligations under the UK’s World Trade Organisation commitments.
The amendments are: the removal of certain baby and children’s products from scope of the FFRs, to reduce babies’ and children’s exposure to CFRs where the risk of exposure to potentially harmful chemicals is greater than the fire risk posed by those products; the removal of the requirement for manufacturers to affix a display label to new products, reflecting the limited value of the display label; and extending the time frame for instituting legal proceedings from 6 to 12 months.
Read the policy paper on the fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture here.
