The European Commission’s draft legislative proposal for the restriction of formaldehyde balances safety and the Single Market.

On 6 October 2022, the European Commission published a revised draft proposal for the restriction of formaldehyde and formaldehyde releasers in articles and vehicles under REACH.

“Formacare supports protecting consumers from unsafe products, tackling unfair competition coming from outside Europe, and harmonising the quality of articles within Europe. The proposal currently on the table represents a solid compromise between all these objectives,” explains Lars Eric Johansson, Chairman of Formacare, a sector group of Cefic.

How so? The limit values for formaldehyde emissions have remained unchanged: 0.062 mg/m3 for wood-based panels and furniture, 0.080 mg/m3 for other articles, and 0.062 mg/m3 for vehicles. To provide clarity on how industries need to perform the necessary testing for compliance, a guidance will be developed on reference conditions and correlation factors. Transition periods of 3 years for articles and 4 years for vehicles are proposed to support the industry’s efforts toward compliance.