The Environmental Protection Agency was scheduled to finalize a rule in December that would regulate the amount of formaldehyde certain composite wood products, such as engineered wood flooring, could emit, but that release date is being pushed back to May, according to E&E Publishing.
The Environmental Protection Agency was scheduled to finalize a rule in December that would regulate the amount of formaldehyde certain composite wood products, such as engineered wood flooring, could emit, but that release date is being pushed back to May, according to E&E Publishing.
The rule, a result of the Formaldehyde Standards for Composite-Wood Products Act of 2010, would set standards for testing, product labeling, chain of custody documentation and enforcement.
It also includes a framework for creating a third-party certification system responsible for auditing composite wood panel producers, conducting formaldehyde emissions tests and ensuring manufacturer’s quality control procedures comply with the regulations set in the Toxic Substance Control Act Title VI.
The EPA rule would be similar to California Air Resources Board Phase II, and part of the delay is due to the federal agency's struggles modifying CARB into a national regulation, according to HF Green Blogger Elizabeth Baldwin, who recently wrote a post about the difficulty in establishing regulations like the proposed EPA rule.
The National Wood Flooring Association expressed concerns about the EPA regulations in 2013 in four areas: the significant deviation from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) program, a short timeframe to become a certified company, the lack of protection of confidential business information and the inclusion of downstream fabricators who would absorb a double certification burden.
