Category: DYES AND CHEMICALS
Country: United States
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has issued final regulations to restrict 11 flame retardants (FR) in five categories of consumer goods.
29th May, 2025
SG 072/25
In January 2021, Massachusetts approved H4900 (Chapter 261 of the Acts of 2020) to regulate 11 specified FR in five categories of products. According to the law, a manufacturer or retailer must not sell, offer or manufacture for sale, distribute in commerce or import into the Commonwealth a covered product, except for inventory manufactured prior to December 31, 2021, that contains any of the 11 listed FR or a chemical analog the total weight of which exceeds 1,000 ppm for any component part of the covered product (SafeGuardS 7/21).
Under the law, the term ‘covered product’ means bedding, carpeting, children’s products, residential upholstered furniture or window treatments.
The law also directs the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) to triennially review, identify and recommend, if applicable, other FRs that should be prohibited if the agency determines that they may have a negative impact on human health or the environment.
In 2022, the MassDEP filed the ‘proposed new regulation 310 CMR 78.00: Ban of Covered Products Containing Certain Flame Retardants’ with the state’s Secretary and subsequently consulted over this proposed new law prior to finalizing the regulations.
On May 9, 2025, Massachusetts announced the final regulations for its ‘Ban of Covered Products Containing Certain Flame Retardants’ law (the Final Regulations). The announcement contains, among other things, the text for the Final Regulations and MassDEP’s response to public comments on the proposed new regulation.
From MassDEP’s response to public comments on the proposed new regulation, the published Final Regulations contain several important clarifications or changes:
-Provides a definition for ‘Chemical Abstract Service’, ‘Chemical Analogue’, ‘Nanometer’ and ‘Retailer’
-Defines ‘Window Treatment’ as curtain materials, blinds or shades intended for indoor residential or indoor commercial use
-Clarifies that ‘Department’ means the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)
-Emphasizes that a manufacturer or retailer must not sell, offer or manufacture for sale, distribute in commerce or import into the Commonwealth a covered product that contains any listed chemical FR or chemical analogs, the combined total of which exceeds 1,000 ppm for any component part of the covered product (see Table 1)
-Exempts six categories of products
-Prohibits a covered product containing any quantity of an engineered nano-object form of any listed chemical FR or chemical analog
-Directs manufacturers and retailers to maintain records for demonstrating compliance with the FR requirements. These must be made available to the MassDEP if requested
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