 Hello, everyone. My name is Jane Schott and I am a program manager here at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. With me today is the CPSC's Small Business Ombudsman, Will Coussi, and we're going to talk to you about the CPSC's requirements for upholstered furniture. On December 27, 2020, the US Congress passed the COVID-19 Regulatory Relief and Work from Home Safety Act. The Act included a provision that adopted California Technical Bulletin 117-2013 as a federal requirement. As a result, the CPSC has the responsibility of enforcing a federal regulation for the flammability of upholstered furniture under 16 CFR Part 1640. The regulation has two effective dates. The first is June 25, 2021, for flammability requirements. The second is June 25, 2022, for labeling requirements. The requirements apply to upholstered furniture, manufactured, imported, or re-upholstered for US consumers. So, to aid you in the understanding of the new federal flammability requirements, we're going to give you a brief overview of the following topics. First, I'm going to talk briefly about the origins of our new upholstered furniture regulation. Then, Will is going to talk a little bit about the federal regulation 16 CFR Part 1640 and give you a little bit of background information on it. Next, I'm going to go over the definition of upholstered furniture as it is written in 16 CFR Part 1640 and also show you some examples of furniture pieces that fall under this regulation. Then, Will is going to go over the new labeling requirements under the regulation. After that, I'm also briefly going to discuss the testing requirements. And finally, Will is going to give you some information on children's upholstered furniture in case your product is or could be a children's upholstered furniture product. He's also going to quickly discuss some information regarding general certificates of conformity and lab testing resources for you. Alright, with that, let's get started with the presentation. During a house fire, there can be just minutes to escape before a home is engulfed in flames. Upholstered furniture is frequently the first thing to ignite and presents a significant source for fuel for fires. According to the CPSC's most recent residential fire loss estimate report, upholstered furniture is the first item in the CPSC's jurisdiction that is ignited in the largest number of fatal fires during the years 2016 through 2018. In fact, during those years, 350 deaths and 550 injuries were associated with fires where upholstered furniture was the first item ignited each year. This is 15% of the estimated annual average of total deaths associated with residential structure fires for the same period. Even more deaths and injuries were associated with upholstered furniture where it wasn't the first item ignited, but contributed to the fuel fire load. Thank you, Jane for the introduction earlier for getting us started here. I am now going to give you a brief overview of the federal planability regulation 16 CFR 1640. Please note throughout the webinar, I will give a general overview of the regulations requirements and will provide James and myself contact information at the end of the presentation. In case you have any follow up questions beyond this presentation. That's what we're here for today. We're here to provide additional information to you. And if you have questions, you want to get those questions from you want to receive those questions. In December of 2020 the US legislation mandated nationwide compliance with California technical bulletin 117 2013 also referred to as TV 117 2013, or sometimes I'll also just say TV 117 for brevity. The United States also added a new federal requirement for labeling as well I'll get into both of those things as we go here. The federal regulation covering planability and labeling of a poster furniture can be found again at 16 CFR part 1640. And during this presentation, I will sometimes simply refer to the regulation as 1640 or 16 CFR 1640, just for brevity. But the federal regulation has two effective dates. The first has already happened that was June 25 of 2021 and that was for the flammability requirements related to TV 117. The second is coming up June 25 2022 for labeling. So what is TV 117 2013 TV 117 2013 was updated and published by California and 2013. The full title for the record is requirements test procedure and apparatus for testing the smolder resistance of materials used in a pulsed furniture. The performance requirements and TV 117 2013 which are now required in the federal regulation at 16 CFR 1640 are small scale burn tests intended to address fires caused by smoldering ignition James going to get into those tests and requirements, a little bit later in the presentation. And those testing requirements they rely heavily upon ASTM E as an Edward 1353-08 a as an apple for their test methods. The federal regulation set forth the requirements test procedure and apparatus for testing the smolder resistance of materials used in a pulsed furniture from hazards associated with smoldering ignition. For example, a cigarette 16 CFR part 1640 codifies those requirements. It is also important to note that 16 CFR part 1640 refer specifically to TV 117 dash 2013. This means that any future changes or updates to TV 117 2013 will not change the requirements for 16 CFR part 1640. Individuals who want to know the performance or flammability requirements for 16 CFR parts 1640 should make sure they refer to TV 117 2013, the one that was published that year, and must not rely upon earlier versions or any subsequent versions. So that's really important to note that those changes will the only thing that would change that would be an act of Congress. So if an act of Congress passed a revision to the act that mandated 16 CFR part 1640, then that could change. But unless that changes the 2013 version of TV 117 will be the version that you need to comply with no matter what happens going forward. The federal regulation preempts other US jurisdictions from establishing or continuing in effect their own flammability regulation designed to protect against the risk of fire from a pulsed furniture. However, please note that 16 CFR part 1640 does not preempt any state or local requirement concerns other risks apart from flammability associated with the pulsed furniture. So the important point here is that the preemption is kind of narrowly focused on fire risks associated with the pulsed furniture. So, and it's not covering risks that are fire risks that are different that pulsed furniture that's an important point. And if you're not sure about this you have questions you can email us you'll have our contact info at the end of this presentation. Now I'm going to turn it back over to Jane to talk through the next section. Thank you will. Okay, so now that we've talked a bit about the federal regulations background. I'm going to talk a little bit about the regulations definition of a pulsed furniture, and also give you a few examples of which products may or may not be considered a pulsed furniture under the regulation. So, the first item I want to discuss in this section is products that are covered under 16 CFR part 1640. The regulation applies to a pulsed furniture that is made a fabric or related material that is used in homes or public spaces where customers will customarily use the upholstered furniture. The regulations definition of a pulsed furniture also specifically specifically refers to seeding furniture. So examples of a pulsed furniture for this would be couches chairs and benches. In CFR part 1640 does not cover the following products you see here on your screen. So that means betting products mattresses and mattress pads mattress foundations furniture meant for outdoors outdoor use only so we're talking about patio furniture or backyard furniture. Physical fitness and exercise equipments such as bench presses and products that are obtained by the written prescription of a healthcare professional. All right, so now I'm going to go over the actual definition of upholstered furniture as it is written directly in the regulation. So under 16 CFR part 1640 upholstered furniture is an article of seeding furniture that is intended for indoor use is immovable or stationary and is constructed with an upholstered seat back or arm. It's also a piece of furniture that can be made or sold with a cushion or pillow and that's whether or not that cushion or pillow is attached or detached the article of furniture, or if it's stuffed or filled. It's also a piece of furniture that can be used as a support for the body of an individual or the limbs and feet on an individual when that individual sits in an upright or reclining position. So once again that goes back to what I was saying before we're referring specifically to seeding furniture when we're talking about the definition of upholstered furniture under the new regulation. So here on this slide, I'm giving you a couple of examples of what we would consider upholstered furniture. As you can see, they're all seeding furniture. They're all intended for indoor use, and they're all constructed with some sort of upholstered seat back or arm. All right. So now that I've gone over the definition of upholstered furniture, I also want to go over the definition of bedding products so you do not confuse the two, because bedding products are not covered by this new regulation, and they have their own requirements. So a bedding product is an item that is used for sleeping or sleep related purposes. And it's also a component, it can also be a component or accessory with respect to an item that is used for sleeping with regard to whether the component or accessory is used alone, along with, or contained with a sleep related item. I also want to note that foundations and mattresses are defined in section 1633.3 of Title 16 CFR and have their own specific requirements. If you want to learn more about them, please visit our foundations and mattress business education page on CPSC.gov. And as a final note on bedding products, I just want to say that most upholstered bed frames and upholstered headboards are not considered upholstered furniture subject to 16 CFR Part 1640. However, upholstered bed frames that incorporate, for say an upholstered bench or another upholstered seating surface outside of the mattress may be considered to be covered by the new standard for flammability of upholstered furniture regulation that we're talking about today in this webinar. If you have any specific doubts about a design that you're making, you can always reach out to the CPSC for feedback on your specific item. Like we'll mentioned earlier, our contact information will be provided at the end of this presentation if you have any questions about this. And with that, I'm going to turn the presentation back over to Will and he's going to discuss some labeling requirements. Thank you, Jane. Now that Jane has had an opportunity to go over the definitions and 16 CFR Part 1640, I am going to discuss the regulations labeling requirements. Starting on June 25, 2022, all upholstered furniture manufactured, imported or reappholstered for US consumers must have a permanent label with the following statement you see here on the screen in red. It complies with US CPSC requirements for upholstered furniture flammability. The label must be permanently located on the product. Keep in mind that products without correct labeling could be delayed for entry into the country while the CPSC examines it. If you have any questions about how to make sure your labeling is done correctly, please let us know. We recommend locating the label in a conspicuous place on the product so that consumers can see it. We further recommend that the text on the label be at least one eighth inch high or 0.32 centimeters and not smaller than any other text on the label. The label's text should be black with the white background and surrounded by a black border. I'm going to show you an example here and shortly. The statement must be in English on the front of the label. These recommendations are to make the label appear more legible conspicuous and prominent, ensuring that the information is easily accessible to consumers. Finally, I want to emphasize that the federal labeling requirement is in addition to any other labeling requirements, including those from the state of California. The 1640 label can be a separate label or it can be added to the bottom of an existing California TB 117 label. That is, so there is some flexibility there on whether it's a standalone label or whether you just build it into one big label with your other labeling requirements. Moving along, here are two examples of what the federal label could look like. It doesn't have to look exactly like this, but these are our recommendations to make sure that the information is easily accessible and conspicuous. On the left, you can see an example of the separate label with black text, a white background and black border. And on the right, you see a very similar version of that. That's just attached and beneath the California TB 117 label. So you can see the same statement is in both places. And at least with the one on the right, the size of the text is related to the size of the other text. And so it can't be much smaller than the other text if you're combining it on a label. Okay, moving along. Now I am going to talk about record keeping. People might have questions about record keeping here. 16C of our part 1640 does not require a general certificate of conformity or other documentation. Instead, the federal permanent label that we just talked about will operate as the declaration of conformity with the flammability regulation. However, while the regulation does not require record keeping beyond the permanent label, it is a best practice to maintain testing and other records for your product for at least the time your product remains in production. So now I'm going to turn it back over to Jane. She's going to walk you through the testing requirements and what's going on there. All right, awesome. Thank you, Will. So let's go over kind of briefly and generally the testing requirements that are going to be coming from California TB 117 2013. Okay, so the CPSC federally required tests are designed to assess upholstered furniture is resistant to combustion after being exposed to smoldering cigarettes under specific conditions. The tests apply to a few components of upholstered furniture, including the following cover fabrics, barrier materials, resilient filling materials and decking materials. And we're going to go over all the definitions of these four components later on in the presentation. The tests in TP 117 2013 that are required under 16 CFR part 1640 are designed for components. This means that the upholstered furniture as a finished assembly is not tested. Instead, the individual components of the furniture are tested. There are various ways you can create a compliant design for your product, depending on which components of the furniture comply. So on your screen are three scenarios that will result in a compliant piece of furniture. For example, a product with a compliant cover fabric over a compliant filling material would be considered a compliant construction for furniture. Also, a product with any cover fabric over a compliant barrier will also meet the conditions for a compliant construction. Finally, a product with a compliant cover fabric over a compliant barrier material and any filling material will also result in a compliant construction. I just want to have you keep in mind that the examples used here represent general approximate approximations and don't represent an exhaustive list of compliant constructions. I'm going to talk a little bit more about compliant constructions again later in the presentation, but I also want to remind you to please refer to the text of TB 117 2013 for a detailed description of each components text method. The places that a barrier must be located for it to be compliant and the various paths that will result in a compliant design. So now I'm going to give you some general information on the various tests required by 16 CFR part 1640. And as I said before, remember they're all found in California TB 117-2013. Each of the required tests involves a miniature bench scale assembly consisting of the component to be tested along with other specific materials. On the right, you're going to see a picture of a mockup of the bench scale test. So what happens in these tests is the assembly is exposed to a lighted cigarette as its ignition source. The test fails if the mockup specimen continues to smolder after 45 minutes, a char length greater than a specified amount for each type of component is measured, or the mockup test specimen transitions to an open flame. Alright, so the first test I'm going to discuss in this presentation is the cover fabric test. Cover materials refer to the outermost layer of fabric or material that is used to enclose the main support system or upholstered material in a piece of furniture. I just want to let you know that although we're using the phrase cover fabric, the tested material can be anything such as leather, vinyl, or other nonwoven outer upholster, upholstery covering. So this particular cover fabric test method measures the tendency of cover fabrics to smolder and contribute to fire spreading when subjected to a smoldering ignition source, like I said, a cigarette. With furniture with cover fabrics that pass this test, the first layer of filling materials located below the cover fabric must also meet the test requirements for the resilient filling material test, and less inappropriate barrier is present. And we're going to talk about the resilient filling material test and the barrier test in the next few slides. So, the next test, like I said before that I'm going to talk about is the barrier material test. In this case, a barrier material refers to the first layer of material that lies under the cover fabric to reduce molding propensity. Cover fabrics that fail the cover fabric test can be used if a piece of furniture uses a compliant barrier material within its design. The barrier material must cover all sides and the top of the seating cushions for this to be compliant. The only exception to this rule is non-reversible and non-detachable seating cushions. These do not require the use of barrier material on the underside of the seating cushion. Alright, so now let's discuss the resilient filling material test. Resilient filling material refers to materials such as baddings, pads, or loose fills within upholstered furniture. Filling material that does not pass the resilient filling material test can be used in upholstered furniture if a compliant barrier material is used between the cover fabric and the filling material. Alright, and the last test we're going to talk about is the decking material test. The deck is the upholstered furniture support under the seat cushion in a loose seat construction. The decking material test applies to resilient material beneath the deck surface. This test measures the tendency of decking material to smolder when subjected to a smoldering ignition source, like I said, such as a cigarette. For decking material that passes this test, the first layer of filling material located below the decking material should also meet the test requirements in the resilient filling material test that we discussed earlier. Alright, so after going over all of those definitions and all of those different types of tests, this table that you see on your screen shows the various combinations for compliant upholstered furniture constructions. As I mentioned earlier, before I discussed the slide, the different types of tests, there are multiple ways to construct compliant furniture that meets the requirements of 16 CFR part 1640. So this particular table is read in columns from left to right. So for example, if you look in column three, a piece of upholstered furniture that has a compliant cover fabric and a compliant resilient filling material, but any material, any barrier material will be considered a compliant construction. And also to give you an example, in column five, a piece of furniture that has a compliant cover fabric and a compliant barrier, but any resilient filling material is still compliant. I just want to let you know again that also on this slide, this table is not an exhaustive chart and it's used for only illustration purposes only. If you want to learn more about different ways to have compliant constructions, please once again visit the actual standard for flammability of upholstered furniture for more detailed information. Alright, so now that we showed you some examples of compliant constructions, this table shows examples of non-compliant constructions for upholstered furniture, and it's going to be read the same way as the previous table. So for example, once again, if we look in column three, the piece of furniture here is not compliant because its barrier material and resilient filling material are not compliant. And just like I said before, this is not an exhaustive table so please check the official regulation for more information. And with that, I'll turn it back over to Will. Thanks, Jane. So now I'm going to get into how these requirements intersect with children's upholstered furniture, then I'll also spend a little bit of time talking about general use furniture and kind of the more general requirements kind of intersecting here. Alright, moving along here. So both general use of upholstered furniture, as well as upholstered furniture, primarily intended to be used by children, must comply with 16 CFR Part 1640. However, the requirements of 1640 are not subject to the usual and typical third party testing and certification requirements under Section 14A of the Consumer Product Safety Act or CPSA. This means U.S. manufacturers and importers of children's upholstered furniture products do not have to certify in a written children's product certificate or CPC that their children's products comply with 16 CFR 1640. For upholstered children's furniture, there is still a requirement to certify in a written CPC based on test results from a CPSC accepted laboratory that the product compliance with all other applicable children's product safety rules. I'll link into this a little bit later, but you can visit this link. So we'll be sending out a PDF and we'll post a PDF of the slides on our Business Guidance page as well, where you can click these links. All the red links you see in here, those are all links. You can visit our rules requirement third party testing and a children's product certificate webpage if you want to know which children's product safety rules and requirements do require third party testing and the production of a CPC. So I'm going to talk a little bit more about the CPC issue and a few slides a little bit later. Okay, now let's talk about how the new upholstered furniture requirements intersect with the durable infant or toddler products category. The durable infant or toddler products that meet the definition of upholstered furniture must comply with 16 CFR 1640's flammability and labeling requirements. And we'll discuss the requirements for products in this category such as upholstered children's folding chairs and stools in more detail on the next slides. However, this is really important. However, many types of durable infant or toddler products are actually specifically exempted from the standard for the flammability of upholstered furniture. This means that the product types listed at the bottom of or on the screen here, they're actually all listed out for you right here starting with bassinets, booster seats, car seats, etc. That that list of products are exempted from the definition. So that's really important. And I would just say to if you're not sure. This is what this is part of why we're even doing this presentation in the first place. If you're not sure you can send us an email you can get in touch with us. Give us a call, and we'll help clarify for you if your product is or is not subject to a pulse for furniture, right, we can do that for you. All right, moving along. So let's discuss children's folding chairs and stools and that's different. Children's folding chairs and stools could potentially be considered a pulse or furniture are not carved out from that list of exemptions that I listed earlier. So, children's folding chairs and stools that meet the definition of the pulse or furniture must comply with the following again the flammability and labeling requirements of 16 CFR part 1640 third party testing requirements for lead and surface coatings and or total lead content. If there are applicable accessible materials. And depending on the construction of the product. Third party testing for durable infant or toddler products requirements at 16 CFR part 1232. That is the safety standard for children's folding chairs and stools. The requirements for consumer registration cards at 16 CFR part 1130 production of a children's product certificate for all of the requirements that are not 1640 and then tracking labels on the product and the package. So, there's a lot of stuff going on if you're making a children's folding chairs and stools and you're not sure maybe that would be a good time to get in touch with us because there's a lot of things going on with that product category. So you can visit our webpage we have a business guidance page for children's folding chairs and stools. We also have guidance page for a pulse or furniture, and I'll be, I'll be including a link later to our regulatory robot tool, which is also helpful in synthesizing all this information for you in one easy accessible way. Okay, in conclusion here. Children's products that meet the definition of the pulse or furniture must comply with the following. Plain ability and labeling under 1640 third party testing for lead, depending on the construction of the product. And any other requirements applicable to the specific product like theoretically there could be phthalates testing or small parts testing. Other types of testing requirements could be intersecting here depending again on the construction or intention of the product. A CPC as I'm going to get into would be required for non 1640 requirements and again tracking labels on the part of the packaging are needed for all children's products. You can visit our children's products education page for more information. In our business guidance section in general with CPC.gov forward slash business education or CPC.gov forward slash getting started, or a couple of short links that bring you right to our general business education pages. All right, let's discuss a little bit here, the general certificates and forming how that works with 1640 we kind of already alluded to it but let's just make sure we're all on the same page and we understand everything here. US manufacturers, importers and reupholsterers of general use of poster furniture are not required to certify compliance to 16 CFR part 1640 in a general certificate of conforming or GCC. However, they must still issue a GCC certifying compliance to 16 CFR part 1303. If there are poster furniture product contains paint or other similar surface coating materials as defined and 16 CFR 1303.2. So if there's, if it's painted a poster furniture that's general use compliance and production of a GCC would still be required for 1303. That's a really important point. If the general use of poster furniture product does not contain any paint or other similar surface coating materials, however, then GCC would not be required for that product. If you would like more information here's the link to our GCC page. It's also just CPSC.gov forward slash GCC. You can find that information. So let's let's summarize a little bit. This issue over CPCs. I just want to spend a little bit more time here on CPCs because we get so many questions. It's such an important issue. Lots of people have questions. So let's just make sure everyone understands what's going on with children's product certificates and how they pertain to 16 CFR part 1640. As mentioned earlier in this presentation, US manufacturers, importers and reupholsterers of children's poster furniture are not required to certify compliance to 16 CFR part 1640 in a CPC. But they still must issue a CPC certifying compliance with other applicable requirements such as for total lead content or lead in paint. So CPC is actually required for all children's products under CPSC's jurisdiction. So the big takeaway here is, if you're making children's poster furniture 100% you have to produce a CPC. That is not up for debate that the general applicable requirements for lead or lead and paint maybe Thales maybe small part testing depending on what it is would apply and would need to be certified in a CPC. The only difference is that your work to comply with 16 CFR part 1640 the imposter furniture requirements would not have to be cited under section two of the CPC that does not go in there. So it's actually similar to our materials or does anyone in the audience or listening watching that has complied with our llama requirements for our materials. It's the same idea that those requirements are not also not required to be certified in a CPC. So there are some requirements that don't have to be in a CPC. This isn't the only time this has ever happened. So we just want to make sure that that's clear. Again, you can find more information on our business guidance page CPSC.gov forward slash CPC. For more information, you can also go to CPSC.gov forward slash certify and CPSC.gov forward slash testing. There are also some short links that should give you more information about testing and certification under CPSC is jurisdiction. Let's talk a little bit about finding a testing lab for compliance purposes with 1640. If you would like to test your pulsar furniture product for 16 CFR part 1640 you'll need to find a lab accredited to test to California TV 117 2013. You'll also be able to conduct testing for the flammability requirement of the regulation and they may or may not also be able to provide feedback to you on the label requirement. You can ask them that. Testing for a pulsar furniture flammability does not have to be conducted as CPSC accepted laboratory. Because of this, because of the way our lab search page and our database of laboratories works, we will not be maintaining and do not maintain a list of laboratories accepted to test to 1640. So only, only requirements that are mandated for third party testing and certification in a CPC show up on the lab search page. That being said, you could still go and use the site to try to find a laboratory with a huge huge database of labs listed all around the world. You go to CPSC.gov forward slash lab search. And one tip that you can do is, is there are other flammability testing requirements under CPSC jurisdiction. There's something under 1610 16 CFR 1610 for clothing and wearing apparel. There's children sleepwear 16 CFR 1615 and 1616. There's mattresses 1632 and 1633. And there's also carpets and rugs 1630 and 1631 so there are a lot of other flammability related requirements where those can do testing. I do keep a list of CPSC accepted labs that can do testing for those requirements. So it is possible, we can't guarantee this but it is possible that labs that can do that type of testing might also be able to do 1640 or TB 117 testing for you. So it's definitely, if you're looking, if you're lost and looking for help on trying to find a laboratory. That's at least one way you can still use our resources to maybe find a lab. But again, no guarantee that you'll find one but it's at least worth of look. Thank you again for watching. My name again as will QC. This is my email. This is also I'm also putting up here our general SBO email, which goes to everyone on the SBO team. Our SBO phone line 301 5047 945 change shot and her email and her phone number and the Office of International Programs. There's a couple of things before you let you go today. If you'd like to sign up for notifications CPSC dot gov forward slash email you can select small business ombudsman updates. And you will get an email about once a month with information about future trainings commission activity new rule makings opportunities to comment opportunities to engage with the CPSC. So please go and sign up and you'll be we won't spam you again. It's about once a month. We send out a nice comprehensive email with lots of helpful information. If you want to see this webinar and all of our previous webinars and all of our future webinars and video content as well, you can go to our YouTube page CPSC has a special business education playlist on our YouTube channel. YouTube.com forward slash us CPSC. And you can also click the link once we post the slides. And you can find all of our video content on the lots of other different topics. And the last thing I'll point out here is the regulatory robot tool it's an online help tool that will ask you a series of questions and give you some helpful guidance about the potentially applicable consumer product. So if you're just starting out you're not sure what might apply or you want to see kind of the potential universal requirements in place for your product. Go to visit the regulatory robots. It's available in seven languages Chinese Vietnamese Korean Spanish Indonesian. You can find that information at business.cpsc.gov forward slash robot business.cpsc.gov forward slash robot for Jane and myself. Thank you very much for attending.