On November 8, 2012, the American Association of Office Furniture Manufacturers (Bifma) officially announced the inclusion of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Formaldehyde Emissions from Wood-based Panels (ATCM) regulations in the ANSI\/BIFMA e3-2012 Furniture Sustainability Standard (or e3 Standard), imposing strict requirements on the minimum formaldehyde emissions from furniture products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The e3 standard represents a structured methodology for assessing the stability of furniture products, comprehensively evaluating their environmental and social impacts, and is an important component of the technical rating standards in the product certification process. Similar to the LEED (Leading Energy and Environment) green building assessment criteria in the building sector, the e3 standard includes several essential environmental sustainability requirements and multiple optional criteria. Because a product needs to meet various optional criteria, the score is determined by the final score and the corresponding rating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bifma's inclusion of the ATCM regulation in the e3 standard can be seen as a manifestation of the US's strengthened regulation of formaldehyde emissions from wood furniture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n