On January 9, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) publicly solicited opinions on the mandatory national standard "Safety technical specification of flame resistance for furniture (draft for approval)," with a deadline for comments set on February 9, 2024. This indicates that the standard has reached the final stage and is expected to be approved and published soon.

In order to ensure the flame-retardant safety of furniture, China has successively introduced mandatory national standards, such as "GB 20286-2006 Requirements and mark on burning behavior of fire retarding products and subassemblies in public place," "GB 17927.1-2011 Upholstered furniture - Assessment of the resistance to ignition of the mattress and the sofa - Part 1: Ignition source: smoldering cigarette," and "GB 17927.2-2011 Upholstered furniture - Assessment of the resistance to ignition of the mattress and the sofa - Part 2: Ignition source: match flame equivalent," to classify the flame retardancy of furniture and suppress furniture ignition, reducing casualties and property losses caused by furniture fires.

The "Safety technical specification of flame resistance for furniture" will stipulate the requirements, test methods, inspection rules, and labeling for the flame retardancy of furniture, applicable to the quality control of soft furniture. This standard will replace the current mandatory standards for furniture flame-retardancy: GB 17927.1-2011 and GB 17927.2-2011. In comparison to these two standards, the new standard will bring about major technical changes, including:

l  Addition of flame-retardant level III;

l  Addition of the wood crib ignition source test method;

l  Modification of cigarette length, changing from (60±5) mm to (55±5) mm.

During its development, this standard referred to ISO and BS standards, maintaining consistency with these standards in key indicators. Specifically, it adopts the cigarette and simulated match flame ignition methods specified in ISO standards for flame-retardancy levels I and II tests, and the pine wood crib ignition source specified in BS standards for flame-retardancy level III tests.