In April 2026, authoritative industry channels announced that the new national standard “Limits of Formaldehyde Release in Interior Decoration Materials, Artificial Panels and Their Products” will be officially implemented on June 1, 2026.
The core change of this standard revision is to formally incorporate E0 level into the national mandatory standard system for the first time, significantly tightening the formaldehyde emission limit of artificial boards from 0.124mg/m³ of the old national standard to ≤0.050mg/m³. It also makes it clear that the old national standard will be completely abolished, and the production and sale of boards that do not meet the new standards will be completely prohibited.
As the core mandatory standard in the field of interior decoration materials in my country, this revision is by no means an iteration of a single material parameter, but a comprehensive reshaping of the environmental logic of the entire home decoration industry, marking that domestic home decoration environmental protection supervision has entered a new stage of stricter and more standardized standards.
For Chongqing’s home decoration market, which has extremely unique climate characteristics and living needs, the implementation of the new national standard is not only an end to industry chaos, but also a comprehensive test of the professional capabilities and responsibilities of local decoration design companies.
For a long time, the environmental protection level of domestic artificial panels has always been an industry pain point of “recommended standards and mandatory standards in parallel”.
Previously, E0-level environmental protection standards were only recommended standards and did not have mandatory binding force, which led to the long-term chaos of false standards, conceptual hype, and sideline marketing in the home decoration market: some merchants used the non-mandatory E0 level as a marketing gimmick, but the actual products failed to meet the corresponding standards; some companies took advantage of the information gap between the old and new standards to use old national standard E1-level boards to pass off as high-environment-level products, seriously damaging consumer rights.
The new national standard incorporates E0 level into the mandatory standard, which means that the formaldehyde emission limit ≤0.050mg/m³ will become the legal entry threshold for the production and sale of artificial boards, cutting off the circulation path of inferior boards from the production end, and completely ending the industry chaos in which the previous environmental protection grade “can be marked or not, and there is no mandatory restriction if it is marked”.
For consumers, this change provides a clear and implementable legal basis for the selection of environmentally friendly materials, and they no longer need to be misled by various marketing concepts; for the home decoration industry, this is a complete industry reshuffle. Market entities that cannot adapt to new standards and rely on low-priced and inferior products to survive will face direct elimination.
However, it is worth noting that during the transition period before the official implementation of the new national standard, there has been chaos in the market where some businesses are clearing out the inventory of the old national standard. Many companies use the gimmicks of “little difference between the old and new standards” and “more cost-effective inventory of boards” to sell substandard products to consumers that are about to be abolished. This phenomenon is particularly prominent in sinking markets and small and medium-sized merchants, and it is urgent for the industry and consumers to be vigilant.
As a decoration design agency that has been rooted in Chongqing for 20 years and has experience in operating high-end home decoration and high-quality workwear in all scenarios, it is believed that the implementation of the new national standard will have a far greater impact on the Chongqing market than most cities across the country. The core reason is that Chongqing’s unique climate characteristics and residential needs determine that local environmentally friendly decoration cannot fall into the single misunderstanding of “only the plate hierarchy”.
Chongqing is characterized by high humidity and rain all year round, with high temperatures and humidity in summer and cold and humid winters, which will directly aggravate the release rate and release cycle of formaldehyde in the boards. It will also accelerate the aging and degradation of the boards. In a humid environment, inferior boards will not only release formaldehyde significantly beyond the standard, but are also prone to mold, deformation, cracking and other problems, which not only affects residential safety, but also shortens the service life of decoration.
This means that Chongqing owners’ demand for the environmental protection of boards is much higher than the national average. The implementation of the new national standard just provides mandatory standard support for local owners to avoid the risks of boards in humid environments.
At the same time, the layout characteristics of Chongqing’s home decoration market have also amplified the core pain points of environmentally friendly decoration.
The local market is dominated by compact apartments within 90 square meters and improved apartments of about 140 square meters. Compact apartments have limited space, and the use density of customized cabinets and woodwork is higher. It is easy to have the problem of “a single board meets environmental standards, but the formaldehyde exceeds the standard after the whole house is stacked.” High-end residences such as flat floors and villas with river views on the two rivers and four sides have a higher proportion of customized woodwork, which has high requirements for the environmental protection, moisture resistance, and stability of the boards.
However, in the current Chongqing home decoration market, there are still a large number of consumers and business owners who fall into cognitive misunderstandings: they believe that as long as they choose boards that meet environmental protection standards, the whole house can be environmentally friendly, but they ignore the impact of board carrying capacity, construction technology, and space design on the final environmental protection effect.
Based on years of experience in local projects in Chongqing, even E0-level boards that fully comply with the new national standards still have the risk of superimposed formaldehyde release. Taking the mainstream 100-square-meter rigid-demand apartments in Chongqing as an example, in humid environments, the use of artificial panels in the whole house must be strictly controlled within a reasonable range. At the same time, multiple means such as edge sealing technology, ventilation design, and moisture-proof treatment are needed to truly achieve environmental compliance for the whole house. This is also a core proposition that local decoration design companies need to solve for consumers after the new national standards are implemented.
The implementation of the new national standard is an inevitable node for the domestic home decoration industry to move from “extensive growth” to “high-quality development.” For Chongqing’s decoration design industry, this is not only an opportunity to standardize the market order, but also a comprehensive challenge to the professional capabilities of enterprises.
It is foreseeable that after the new standards are officially implemented, Chongqing’s home decoration market will usher in a round of deep reshuffle: small and medium-sized merchants and workshop-style enterprises that cannot adapt to the new standards and rely on low-priced and inferior products to attract traffic will gradually withdraw from the market; while local enterprises that adhere to their professional bottom line and have full-chain quality control capabilities will gain greater market space.
But at the same time, we need to be vigilant. After the new standards are implemented, a new round of conceptual hype may appear in the market. Some businesses may use gimmicks such as “super E0 grade” and “zero formaldehyde” to conduct false marketing and mislead consumers again. This requires industry associations and formal practitioners to work together to popularize consumer knowledge and guide industry standards.
Chongqing’s local decoration design companies cannot stop at “selecting boards that meet the new national standards”. They must also build a full-chain environmentally friendly closed loop from design, material selection, construction to delivery based on Chongqing’s local climate characteristics and human settlement needs.
Specifically, on the design side, it is necessary to combine the characteristics of Chongqing’s house types and the humid climate to accurately calculate the load-bearing capacity of the whole house panels in advance, and at the same time optimize the space ventilation design to avoid the risk of wood abuse in humid spaces; on the material selection side, it is not only necessary to strictly select boards that meet the new national standards, but also to adapt to Chongqing’s climate, and select moisture content that suits the local environment and has the characteristics
For products with good moisture-proof performance, supplier traceability control must be carried out to prevent old national standard inventory boards from flowing into the project; at the construction end, it is necessary to strictly standardize the board edge sealing, installation, moisture-proof treatment and other processes to reduce the hidden dangers of formaldehyde release from the construction process; at the delivery end, a complete environmental protection acceptance system needs to be established to provide consumers with clear and traceable environmental protection delivery guarantees.
In the final analysis, the core of environmentally friendly home decoration is to protect the health and safety of the residents.
The implementation of the new national standard has set an insurmountable legal bottom line for the industry. Local decoration and design companies in Chongqing should adhere to the original intention of “taking original design as the soul and landing delivery as the basis”, based on the needs of local residents in Chongqing, and truly integrating environmental protection standards into the entire project process, rather than staying in marketing rhetoric and paper parameters.
Only by adhering to the bottom line of professionalism and deeply exploring local needs can we truly contribute to the high-quality and sustainable development of Chongqing’s decoration design industry and create a truly healthy, safe and high-quality living space suitable for local life for local consumers.
