Excessive formaldehyde has always been a health hazard that plagues thousands of families during the home decoration process.
Recently, two mandatory national standards in the field of home building materials – “Limits of Formaldehyde Release in Interior Decoration Materials Artificial Panels and Their Products” (GB18580-2025) and “Limits of Hazardous Substances in Paints Part 1: Architectural Coatings” (GB30981.1-2025) were officially implemented.
Starting from June 1, E1-level finished furniture, flooring, etc. that are common on the market will be completely withdrawn from production and sales.
The implementation of the new national standards has forced the home building materials industry to accelerate its transformation and upgrading, build a strong defense line for home decoration health from the source, and effectively protect the residential safety of hundreds of millions of consumers.
In home building materials stores such as Juran Home Beijing Jinyuan Store and Red Star Macalline Beijing West Fourth Ring Store, reporters randomly interviewed and found that consumers are very wary of excessive formaldehyde.
“My family recently wants to renovate the cloakroom. When purchasing boards, I will first ask the salesperson about formaldehyde emissions.” Aunt Liu, a consumer, told reporters.
The above two new national standards have effectively solved the problems of scattered standards and blind spots in management and control in the past. They have comprehensively optimized the limits of hazardous substances, product classifications, and testing methods. Consumers have a clearer and more stringent reference basis for purchasing home decoration materials such as sheets and coatings.
“Currently, my country’s control standards for formaldehyde release from artificial panels have been at the forefront of the world.” Zhang Zhongtao, a professor-level senior engineer at the Industrial Development Planning Institute of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, told reporters.
For example, the European Union’s formaldehyde emission limits for artificial panels for construction are divided into E1 levels (≤0.124mg/m3) and E2 levels (>0.124mg/m3); Japan’s JAS certified formaldehyde emission limits are divided into four levels: F1 star (≤5mg/L), F2 star (≤1.5mg/L), F3 star (≤0.5mg/L), and F4 star (≤0.3mg/L).
In contrast, the core change in my country’s new national standard for artificial panels is to raise the formaldehyde emission limit for artificial panel products directly used indoors to E0 level (≤0.050mg/m3), ending the previous history of E1 level as the only mandatory standard.
According to reports, my country’s formaldehyde control standards for artificial panels have gone through multiple rounds of iterations over more than 20 years and have completed the leap from basic compliance to strict enforcement.
The first version of the mandatory national standard in 2001 established the E1 and E2 grading framework; in 2017, the testing method was unified and the E1 level limit was fixed at 0.124 mg/m3, which has become a common standard that has been used for nearly 10 years.
Although the recommended standards in 2021 will introduce E0 and ENF levels, they are only bonus points for brand differentiation marketing. Chaos such as the mixing of high and low standards and detection fraud have long existed in the market.
The mandatory national standard implemented this time clearly distinguishes artificial board base materials and artificial board products for the first time, and delineates differentiated formaldehyde release thresholds.
According to regulations, basic boards such as plywood and particleboard must meet the E1 level standard, and the formaldehyde emission amount shall not exceed 0.124mg/m3; artificial board products such as floors, wooden doors, and finished cabinets that are directly used indoors are mandatory to reach the E0 level, and the formaldehyde emission amount shall be reduced to 0.05mg/m3.
This means that the production and sales of E1-grade finished furniture and wooden floors that have been circulating in the market will be stopped from now on.
In the field of architectural coatings, the new national standard integrates the two previous parallel standards for wall coatings and floor coatings to build a unified management and control system. The scope of management and control extends to auxiliary materials such as putty, color paste, and diluent that were easily overlooked in the past, realizing the supervision of the entire coating chain.
In terms of the control of hazardous substances, the new national standards have significantly tightened the limits of volatile organic compounds (VOC), and for the first time added limit indicators such as semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC), total arsenic and methylisothiazolinone (MIT), filling a number of regulatory gaps and reducing the risk of home decoration pollution in an all-round way.
During the interview, Ms. Wang, who was preparing to renovate her new house, told reporters that when she renovated her old house a few years ago, she could still smell the pungent odor after moving in for a long time. She had always been worried about the impact of formaldehyde on the health of her family.
For this new house decoration, she will ask the merchants to produce test reports when purchasing, and give priority to E0-rated boards.
When the reporter visited the above two stores, he learned that many consumers have the same idea as Ms. Wang. They no longer only focus on product styles and prices. Environmental protection indicators have become an important factor in purchasing building materials and home products.
Many consumers who have experienced renovation pitfalls said frankly that the biggest beneficiaries of the implementation of the new national standard are consumers. In the past, some businesses deliberately confused the grades of boards and concealed the pollution problems of auxiliary materials. The new national standard clarifies the labeling requirements, making it clearer and easier for consumers to understand when selecting materials.
According to the reporter’s understanding, in order to ensure a smooth transition to the implementation of the new national standard, leading companies have made arrangements in advance.
More than 30 leading wood-based panel brands, including Wanhua Hexiang, Qianqianzhou, Moganshan and Tubaobao, jointly issued a high-quality development declaration, promising to stop production and sales of non-E0 grade products after June 1, abandon false marketing of “zero formaldehyde”, truthfully label environmental protection grades, abandon low-price involution, and turn to technology and quality competition.
Mainstream home building materials companies have upgraded their production lines and promoted formaldehyde-free adhesives and low-pollution coating formulas. Paint manufacturers have increased the research and development and production capacity layout of water-based coatings, gradually replacing traditional solvent-based products, and complying with environmental protection policies and changes in market demand.
Zhou Hongsheng, president of the China Forest Products Industry Association, said that home building materials companies must deepen their product features, create differentiated advantages, enhance core values, and follow the path of high-quality development.
The industry must not fall into a price war. Low-price competition will not only shrink corporate profits, but also cause a loss of consumer trust.
The new national standard is not only the “instructions” for enterprise production, but also the “weights and measures” for quality supervision.
The reporter learned that local market regulatory authorities continue to promote the promotion and implementation of two new national standards.
Among them, Chengdu took the lead in launching special training to guide the city’s 60 wood-based panel production companies, more than 550 furniture and wooden door production companies, and more than 180 paint production companies to benchmark and improve.
In the next step, product quality supervision and spot checks will also be carried out, focusing on checking whether artificial board products and architectural coatings in the production and circulation fields meet the requirements of the new national standards.
Increase the intensity of random inspections of end consumer products such as furniture, wooden doors, and floors.
Tianyancha data shows that the annual output value of my country’s artificial panel-related industries exceeds 1.2 trillion yuan, and there are more than 19,900 registered production companies. However, there have long been problems of low concentration and uneven quality.
Strict environmental protection standards have raised the threshold for industry entry and accelerated the elimination of backward production capacity. Market competition has gradually shifted from low-price competition to a comprehensive competition of technology, quality and environmental protection.
Small processing plants are gradually withdrawing from the market because they cannot afford the upgrade costs. Industry resources are accelerating to concentrate on leading companies with technological and financial advantages. The industry is expected to usher in structural changes.
Fu Yuejin, director of the National Quality Inspection and Testing Center for Artificial Panels and Wood and Bamboo Products, said that the implementation of the new national standard has ended the situation where high-end environmental protection grades are only used as a marketing concept, and has clarified the environmental bottom line of indoor wood products from a legal perspective.
In the short term, enterprises need to bear the cost of equipment and technology upgrades, but in the long term, it can promote the industry to bid farewell to the extensive development model and enhance the core competitiveness of the entire industry.
It is worth mentioning that industry insiders pointed out that the new national standard solves the bottom line problem of the industry, not the ultimate problem.
The two new national standards focus more on the amount of formaldehyde released, and do not cover other harmful substances such as benzene series, nor do they take into account the environmental protection of the entire chain of finished boards (including finishes, edge sealing, adhesives) actually used by consumers, as well as the complexity of real living scenarios.
As the industry concentrates resources on refined competition in the formaldehyde value of base materials, other factors that affect residential safety are gradually becoming new industry pain points.
