China notifies WTO of revised standards for limits on hazardous substances in furniture 
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation on August 16 submitted to the WTO a TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) notification of mandatory national standards (GB) called the “Limit of Harmful Substances of Furniture”, which revise China’s existing standards for limits on hazardous substances in furniture. Comments will be accepted for 60 days from the notification. A publication date has not been set. Here are the main changes introduced by the new standards:
Integration of two sets of standards
The following two sets of standards are integrated into a single GB.
- GB 18584-2001 Indoor decorating and refurbishing materials–Limit of harmful substances of wood based furniture
- GB 28481-2012 Limit of harmful substances of plastic furniture
Limits on VOC emanations
Limits on the emanation of the following VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) are added.
| Substance | CAS Number(s) | Limit (mg/m3) | Products covered |
| Formaldehyde | 50-00-0 | ≤ 0.08 | Indoor furniture |
| Benzene | 71-43-2 | ≤ 0.06 | |
| Toluene | 108-88-3 | ≤ 0.15 | |
| Xylene | 95-47-6, 108-38-3, 106-42-3 | ≤ 0.20 | |
| TVOC1 | － | ≤ 0.50 |
1 Total Volatile Organic Compounds.
Limits on leachable hazardous elements
Limits on the following hazardous elements are added.
| Substance | Limit (mg/kg) | Calibration coefficient for analysis (%) | Products covered |
| Antimony | ≤ 60 | 60 | Furniture for children, infants and babies: the limits are applied to coatings on any touchable surfaces
Other furniture: the limits are applied only to color paint on furniture |
| Arsenic | ≤ 25 | 60 | |
| Barium | ≤ 1,000 | 30 | |
| Cadmium | ≤ 75 | 30 | |
| Chromium | ≤ 60 | 30 | |
| Lead | ≤ 90 | 30 | |
| Mercury | ≤ 60 | 50 | |
| Selenium | ≤ 500 | 60 |
Limits on other hazardous substances
Limits on the following radionuclides and dimethyl fumarate are added.
| Substance | Limit(s) | Products covered | |
| Radionuclide | Radium-226 | Ira ≤ 1.0
Ir ≤ 1.3 |
Furniture with stone materials |
| Thorium-232 | |||
| Potassium-40 | |||
| Dimethyl fumarate | ≤ 0.1 mg/kg | Upholstered furniture transported by sea | |
The draft of the “Limit of Harmful Substances of Furniture” standards for TBT notification (in simplified Chinese) is available at
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/CHN/21_5204_00_x.pdf
For details of the TBT notification (G/TBT/N/CHN/1558; in English), see this link:
http://tbtims.wto.org/en/RegularNotifications/View/173735?FromAllNotifications=True
