Written question asked by Ruth Cadbury (Labour) on Thursday, 26 April 2018, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 30 April 2018. It was answered by Baroness Coffey (Conservative) on Friday, 4 May 2018 on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Furniture: Formaldehyde

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) enforcement and (b) effectiveness of the published acceptable limits for formaldehyde both within and released from MDF wood used in furniture.

Answer: Six sites in the UK are engaged in the manufacture of particleboard and fibreboard. These sites are all currently compliant with the formaldehyde release limits set out in current published UK guidance. Following the publication in November 2015 of new EU guidance and emission limits under the EU Industrial Emission Directive, UK regulators are currently working with industry to ensure that their environmental permits are all reviewed and updated by the implementation deadline of 20 November 2019.

Secondary information