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British Furniture Confederation to influence UK flammability guidelines

Members of the British Furniture Confederation are to meet with Terry Edge of the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on 22 July to discuss the UK flammability regulations.

The existing regulations - which this year are 20 years old -have saved lives; an estimated 1,150 from 1988-2002*. In fact there is no evidence of any fatalities resulting from furniture which has fully complied with the 1988 regulations where it was the first item ignited in a domestic house fire.

Whilst the regulations have clearly been successful, there are still issues of interpretation which need to be resolved. Ideally, a review of the regulations would be the best way forward. However, in the first instance, the meeting with Terry Edge will help to ensure guidelines to the regulations will generate greater clarity.

There is increasing European interest in the flammability of upholstery and mattresses, and the strength of the UK regulations was demonstrated recently to EU Officials in Delft.

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* DTI-commissioned research conducted by the University of Surrey’s Polymer Research Centre, 2005.

The BFC plans to meet with Andrew Maugham, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, on the same day. Topics for discussion include the significant economic contribution of the UK furniture industry, the problems accessing EU structural funds, and also how some European countries are moving the burden of social taxation away from business and on to the point of purchase (from National Insurance to VAT).

The issue of European structural funds is particularly frustrating for the trade. European furniture manufacturers appear to be able to access this funding to support their businesses, but the situation is very different in the UK. The structural funds appear to have been devolved to the Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), but these agencies do not recognise the furniture and bed industry as a priority sector.

The BFC is keen to pressurise government to re-assess the way these structural funds are distributed so that UK furniture and bed manufacturers are on a level playing field with their European counterparts.

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