US Flammable Fabrics Act General Rules — 16 CFR Part 1608
- Citation
- 16 CFR Part 1608
- Jurisdiction
- US
- Made by
- Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Instrument
- Regulation
- Status
- In force
What it requires (4 obligations)
The rules and regulations in this part are applicable to ALL standards issued under the Flammable Fabrics Act.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Manufacturers, importers and sellers
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, carpets
- Markets
- US
This Part sits behind every FFA standard this register holds — clothing textiles (1610), vinyl film (1611), children's sleepwear (1615, 1616), carpets (1630, 1631), mattresses (1632, 1633) and upholstered furniture (1640). A supplier reading any one of those has not met the guaranty rules that apply across all of them.
Quoted from 16 CFR § 1608.0, "Scope", eCFR snapshot 2026-08-01.
A guaranty furnished under section 8 of the Flammable Fabrics Act by a person who is NOT a resident of the United States may not be relied upon as a bar to prosecution under section 7 of the Act for a violation of section 3.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Manufacturers, importers and sellers
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, carpets
- Markets
- US
The single most consequential sentence in this Part for a supplier outside the United States. A guaranty issued by a foreign mill does NOT protect the US buyer who relies on it, so the document a supplier believes it is providing has no protective effect across the border. This is why US importers ask for test reports rather than accepting a supplier guaranty, and the reason is legal rather than commercial distrust.
Quoted from § 1608.4, "Guaranties furnished by nonresidents of the U.S. no bar to prosecution".
Any person RESIDING IN THE UNITED STATES may file a continuing guaranty under section 8 of the Act with the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, applicable to any product, fabric or related material they market or handle. It must be fully executed in duplicate, each copy acknowledged before a notary public. To remain in effect it must be renewed every three years, and at any other time a change occurs in the legal business status of the person filing it.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Manufacturers, importers and sellers
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, carpets
- Markets
- US
Read with § 1608.4 this closes the door twice on a non-resident: the continuing-guaranty route is open only to a person residing in the United States, and a guaranty furnished by a non-resident is no bar to prosecution anyway. The three-year clock and the change-of-status trigger are independent — a restructuring resets it regardless of when the last renewal fell.
Quoted from § 1608.3(a).
A person who has filed a continuing guaranty must promptly advise the Commission in writing of any change in the legal status of the guarantor or in the address of the guarantor's principal office and place of business. No representation or suggestion may be made, in advertising or otherwise marketing or handling products subject to the Act, that the Act, the Government or any branch of it guarantees in any manner that a product, fabric or related material conforms to a flammability standard in effect under the Act.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Manufacturers, importers and sellers
- Products
- Textiles, apparel, home textiles, carpets
- Markets
- US
Two duties recorded together because both are about what the paperwork may be made to say. The notification duty is continuous rather than periodic — "promptly", on any change. And § 1608.6 bars marketing that implies government endorsement of conformity, which reaches phrasing like "CPSC approved" or "government guaranteed" on a spec sheet or listing.
Quoted from § 1608.3(a), final sentences, and § 1608.6, "Reference to guaranty by Government prohibited".
This is a register, not advice. It records what an instrument says and when it applies. Whether it applies to a particular company, product or shipment is a question for somebody who knows that business, and the answer is frequently not what the summary above would suggest.
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