Cigarette ignition resistance will be legally required for all furniture sold in the USA. The provision is included in the 1.4 billion US$ US Covid relief package, finally signed by Donald Trump at the end of December. Six months from enactment of the bill, the California furniture fire safety standard (CA TB 117-2013) will become mandatory for all furniture and bedding products sold in the USA. This takes up the proposed “Safer Occupancy Furniture Flammability Act” 2020 (see pinfa Newsletter n°111). Most large furniture manufacturers in the USA already respect this standard, but the new regulation will render standards consistent for all companies in all States of the USA. This standard is considered to provide inadequate fire safety by many experts. For example, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) itself concluded in 2019 that the California standard does not relate to furniture in the real world, does not give consistent results and does not offer improved safety because 90% of the furniture on the market would pass the test (see pinfa Newsletter n°108).
US “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021’, Title XXI – Covid 19 Regulatory Relief and Work from Home Safety Act (Sec. 2101) https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-116hr133enr/pdf/BILLS-116hr133enr.pdf