US Upholstered Furniture Flammability — 16 CFR Part 1640
- Citation
- 16 CFR Part 1640
- Jurisdiction
- US
- Made by
- Consumer Product Safety Commission
- Instrument
- Regulation
- Status
- In force
What it requires (4 obligations)
All upholstered furniture as defined in § 1640.3, manufactured, imported or reupholstered on or after the effective date, is subject to this part, and all such furniture must comply with the California standard, Technical Bulletin TB 117-2013, incorporated by reference at § 1640.6.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Manufacturers, importers and sellers
- Products
- Home textiles, coated fabrics, textiles
- Markets
- US
This Part sets no test of its own — it adopts a STATE agency's technical bulletin as the federal standard, so a supplier reading Part 1640 for a procedure finds a citation. Scope reaches REUPHOLSTERY on the same terms as manufacture and import, which the word "manufacture" alone would not suggest. The substance is California Technical Bulletin TB 117-2013, "Requirements, Test Procedure and Apparatus for Testing the Smolder Resistance of Materials Used in Upholstered Furniture", published June 2013 and incorporated by reference at § 1640.6.
Quoted from 16 CFR §§ 1640.1(a), 1640.1(b) and 1640.5(a), eCFR snapshot 2026-08-01.
Each manufacturer of a product subject to the California standard must include the statement "Complies with U.S. CPSC requirements for upholstered furniture flammability" on a permanent label located on the product. That label is considered to be the certification that the product complies with the standard.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Manufacturers, importers and sellers
- Products
- Home textiles, coated fabrics, textiles
- Markets
- US
The wording is prescribed verbatim and the label IS the certification — there is no separate certificate to issue. The label must be PERMANENT and on the product, so a hangtag or carton marking does not discharge it.
Quoted from § 1640.4(b).
A fabric, related material or product to which the California standard applies is not subject to section 14(a) of the Consumer Product Safety Act with respect to that standard.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Manufacturers, importers and sellers
- Products
- Home textiles, coated fabrics, textiles
- Markets
- US
This disapplies the usual CPSA certification machinery for this standard, which is why § 1640.4(b) has to make the label do the work. A supplier who produces a general conformity certificate and omits the permanent label has satisfied a requirement that does not apply and missed the one that does.
Quoted from § 1640.4(a).
No State or political subdivision of a State may establish or continue in effect any provision of a flammability law, regulation, code, standard or requirement designed to protect against the occurrence of fire, or to slow or prevent the spread of fire, with respect to upholstered furniture — except as provided in sections 1374, 1374.2 and 1374.3 of title 4 of the California Code of Regulations (other than subsections (b) and (c) of section 1374) or in the California standard itself.
No date set Confirmed In force, dates fixed in published law
- Who it falls on
- Manufacturers, importers and sellers
- Products
- Home textiles, coated fabrics, textiles
- Markets
- US
This inverts the usual state/federal question. A supplier ordinarily asks whether a state rule is stricter than the federal one; here the federal rule IS the California one and other states are shut out of the field entirely. Recorded as an obligation rather than background because it tells a supplier which enquiries they do NOT have to make. § 1640.5(c) preserves certain other state law, which is not recorded here.
Quoted from § 1640.5(b), "Preemption".
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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