US EPA Announces Final Rule to Revise Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced changes to the Formaldehyde Standards for Composite Wood Products Act. The EPA published a final rule in 2016 to implement the Act and has now issued a revised final rule (88 FR 10468)) to revise the Act (40 CFR Part 770) that will become effective on March 23, 2023. The latest final rule updates the incorporation of several voluntary consensus standards, adds a reference to section 6.2.2 under ISO/IEC 17065:2021, which allows a third-party certifier (TPC) to utilize external evaluation resources, adds an intermediate range value to the equation, and formally accepts the option of a TPC to perform remote quarterly inspections under certain conditions. These changes aim to ensure the safety of composite wood products and will come into effect in the near future.