The New York State Governor has signed S4630B & S7737 to approve and amend the Family and Fire Fighter Protection Act to prohibit the use of certain flame retardant chemicals in upholstered furniture, mattresses and electronic display.

From December first, 2024, no person shall sell or offer for sale in the state of New York any new, not previously owned, upholstered furniture or mattress, that contains, or a constituent component of which contains, any covered flame retardant chemical, individually or in combination, that is any of the following:

1. At or above levels set by the department in regulation; or
2. Intentionally added.

From December first, 2025, a custom upholsterer in the state of New York shall not repair, reupholster, recover, restore, or renew upholstered furniture or reupholstered furniture using replacement components that contain any covered flame retardant chemical, individually or in combination, that is any of the following:

1. At or above levels set by the department in regulation; or
2. Intentionally added.

The above prohibitions shall not apply to the following:

1. Electronic components of mattresses, reupholstered furniture, or upholstered furniture, or any associated casing for such electronic Components.
2. Upholstered or reupholstered furniture components other than those identified in definition.
3. Thread or fiber when used for stitching mattress components together.
4. The natural fibers wool, silk, and other animal fibers whether used singly or in combination with other materials.
5. Textiles made using modacrylic fiber components without antimony trioxide when used internally as a barrier material in a memory foam or gel foam mattress or aramid fibers when used in the fabric that covers the bottom (non-sleep surface) of a mattress that has a sleeping surface on only one side of the mattress. This exemption shall expire on 1st Jan, 2026.

From December first, 2024, no person shall sell or offer for sale in the state of New York any electronic display that contains, in the enclosure or stand of such electronic display, any organohalogen flame retardant chemical, individually or in combination, that is any of the following:

1. At or above levels set by the department in regulation; or
2. Intentionally added.

From January first, 2023, no electronic display shall be sold in the state unless the manufacturer has submitted an annual report identifying all the organohalogen flame retardants used in the enclosure or stand of the electronic display in a form determined by the department.

In addition, the sellers of covered products will not be in violation of the law if they can show that they relied in good faith on the manufacturer’s signed Certificate of Compliance (CoC) indicating compliance with the requirements in this law.

Definitions:

• "Electronic display" means a consumer product with a display screen and associated electronics that, as its primary function, displays visual information from wired or wireless sources and is available for purchase by individuals or households for personal use in a residential space.  Electronic display shall not include:
  1. any electronic display with a screen area smaller than or equal to one hundred square centimeters or fifteen and one-half square inches;
  2. projectors;
  3. virtual reality headsets;
  4. all-in-one video conference systems; or
  5. displays that are integrated with appliances and are not available for purchase as separate products by end-users.

• "Organohalogen flame retardant chemical" means a chemical that meets both of the following criteria:
  1. A functional use for the chemical is to resist or inhibit the spread of fire or as a synergist to chemicals that resist or inhibit the spread of fire; and
  2. The chemical that contains one or more halogen elements, including fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine, bonded to carbon.

• "Custom upholsterer" means a person who, either by himself or herself or through employees or agents, repairs, reupholsters, recovers, restores, or renews upholstered furniture, or who makes to order and Specification of the user any article of upholstered residential furniture, using either new materials or owner's materials.

• "Covered flame retardant chemical" means any chemical that meets both of the following criteria:
  1. a functional use for the chemical is to resist or inhibit the spread of fire or as a synergist to chemicals that resist or inhibit the spread of fire; and
  2. the chemical is one of the following: A halogenated, organophosphorus, organonitrogen, or nanoscale chemical.
     1. ” Halogenated chemical" is any chemical that contains one or more Halogen elements, including fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine.
     2. "Organophosphorus chemical" is any chemical that contains one or more carbon elements and one or more phosphorus elements.
     3. "Organonitrogen chemical" is any chemical that contains one or more carbon elements and one or more nitrogen elements.

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