Are there any new criteria for furniture industry to be introduced in 2014? According to authorities governing Nanjing decoration & finishing industry, besides a completed amendment of National Standards for Limit of Harmful Substances in Wooden Furniture, 3 more standards concerning household finishing and decoration will be publicized one after another: one is a new national standard for Test of Mechanical Properties of Furniture, which will serve as a safeguard for durability of furniture; another is national standard for air purifier which shall be provided with technical indicators of different contaminants; the other is the national standard for water tap industry, Standard for Ceramic Cartridge Faucets, which clearly specifies precipitation amount of heavy metal from water faucets.
3 New Standards are to be publicized in the year. There is new guaranty for durability of furniture. Old standards for furniture required for environmental and material test only, but requirements for durability test were in absence. Customers used to frequently complain about depression of wardrobe and leg breaking of tables and chairs. In fact, furniture, regardless of its material, need to be tested in accordance with general mechanical tech standards for its durability and load capacity. New national standard for Test of Mechanical Properties of Furniture will take effect in May of 2014, which stipulates hardiness, durability and stability of furniture such as tables, chairs, cabinets, single-deck bed and so forth. In the past, consumers had no way to check whether a piece of furniture was strong enough or not, but according to new standard, consumers are given access to the test data of mechanical properties of furniture.
Purification coverage is defined.
Escalation of fog and haze problem has heat sales of air purification products. On market, purifiers of all types with different stunts allure consumers. As known, previous national standard for air purifiers only made it compulsory for electrical safety and antibiotic and sterilization functions, while purification standard was only optional, which gave rise to people’s doubt about trueness of its purification function advertized by makers. Just at the beginning of 2014, Standardization Administration of People’s Republic of China announced its initiation of amendment of existing national air purification standard, GB/T18801-2008 Air Purifier Standard. The new standard improves technical indicators of products for different contaminants, specifies testing method and incorporates calculations of applicable coverage and air purification amount, which offers support to customers in selecting such products.
The ever most rigorous regulations on lead precipitation amount of faucets are to take effect.
In 2013, lead precipitation of faucets afflicted consumers. Just at the beginning of 2014, exposure of excessive lead amount in faucets doesn’t die out, but is intensified instead. Those international leading brands are also involved. Consumers expect their furniture to be worry-free with sound quality, while many are disappointed when they find even the high-price faucet doesn’t confirm to quality standard. Recently, according to a competent person from General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection & Quarantine (AQSIQ), the newly amended national standard regarding faucet, Standard for Ceramic Cartridge Faucets specifies heavy metal amount in faucets as an item for compulsory testing, including heavy metal amount testing such as Stibonium, Arsenic, Barium, Beryllium, Boron, Cadmium, Copper, Mercury, Thallium and so forth. Regarding to Lead element, it’s reported that its precipitation amount of water faucet shall not exceed 5g/L according to new national standard, which can be seen as the harshest in requirement ever in history.
Furniture manufactures of famous brands have made response to the new standards.
Try to reduce contaminants during manufacturing.
“We use pure wood, and adopt HOMAG production line exported from Germany, so we can boast that we have a dust-free workshop where dust and saw dust are directly transported to dump by pipelines. Therefore, there is no dust or pungent odor in our workshop,” the principal of a Red-star Maclline store in Central Road, the famous top-100 Beijing furniture brand, told reporters. He further said that in production process, Red-star strives to reduce pollution by means of splicing with mortise and tenon instead of nails. Japanese eco-friendly AICA and cold-splicing glue and Italian water soluble paint are used during production. Hence, formaldehyde amount is almost zero upon testing of wooden furniture, he said.
Bocam Wardrobe, positioned as high-end customized wardrobe maker, produces panel furniture and wood-based furniture, and also takes the lead in furniture industry in terms of eco-friendliness. “Eco-friendliness of furniture is mainly determined by quality of its primary and consumable materials. According to formaldehyde emission level, furniture panels can be classified into 3 categories, E2, E1 & E0. E0 signifies the lowest formaldehyde emission. Current national standard requires E1 (qualified boards) for furniture production, while Bocam adopts international E0 Standard, where the lowest formaldehyde emission can be disregarded. With regard to production process, all edges are sealed to reduce formaldehyde emission.” Principal of Bocam Wardrobe store in Central Road told reporters.
Furniture sellers’ promise:
Unconditional refund if products of non-conformity are found sold.
Red-star Macalline, as a top seller of traditional home furniture, attaches great importance to eco-friendly issues. According to a reporter from Yangtze Evening News, Macalline strictly follows franchisee prequalification rules, and entrusts national testing authorities to perform regular sample test of products in store for sale, so as to make sure products to be sold meet national eco-protection standard. Besides, it promises to consumers that sold products can be refunded or replaced if tested unqualified by any competent testing agency.
Since 2012, Red-star Macalline, in collaboration with China Quality Certification Center (CQC), has been promoting “Green and eco-friendly Leading Brands” program, where 78 furniture brands of 12 categories are picked out from 12000 as recommended eco-friendly leading brands in accordance with product testing data in workshop, brand assessment by experts in furniture industry, quality and eco-friendly testing data and consumer’s complaint data analysis. Not long ago, Macalline granted medals to these leading brands, serving as a safeguard for consumers to buy healthy and eco-friendly furniture.
