The Baby Products Association is urging businesses to write to the government to get baby products removed from the current Fire Retardancy Regulations.
Towards the end of 2009 the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) announced that the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 would be revised and the first stakeholder event to kick off the work was held in 2010.
Fast forward 12 years and BIS has become the Office for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS); a new department has been created called the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) – and, frustratingly, the revision is no closer to completion.
The BPA has been campaigning since before the revision was announced to have baby products removed from scope.
In 2019, the Environmental Audit Committee conducted an inquiry into Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life and concluded that baby products should immediately be removed from the scope of the current regulations.
A new approach to the Regulations has been adopted and they are to contain only the scope and essential safety requirements, underpinned by safety standards developed by BSI. The new draft Regulations were to be published for consultation by the end of Q2 2022, but have been delayed again, with the new deadline of autumn 2022 suggested.
The BSI Committee responsible for developing the safety standards cannot develop any until it knows what is in scope and so further delays are a certainty.
BPA is now urging all businesses to write to the Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Secretary of State at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA or email kwasi.kwarteng.mp@parliament.uk asking him to remove baby products from the scope of these Regulations, rather than relying on a revision that has so far taken 12 years with no guarantee of success.
The BPA has drafted a letter and is happy to share with both members and non-members for the good of the industry, which can be personalise and amended needed. Those interested can email julie@b-p-a.org for a copy.
