As ISPA previously reported, New York enacted the Family and Fire Fighter Protection Act (the Act) in 2021. Key sections of this law are effective December 1, 2024. The Act prohibits the sale of new mattresses and upholstered furniture that contain the following covered flame retardant chemicals:

  • halogenated
  • organophosphorus
  • organonitrogen
  • nanoscale flame retardants

To comply with the Act, the above chemicals may not be “intentionally added” to a new mattress sold in New York.

This statute provides that a seller of mattresses other than a manufacturer shall not be in violation of the flame retardant chemical prohibition if such seller can show that they relied in good faith on a written assurance of the manufacturer through a certificate of compliance stating that the mattress complies with the requirements of the law. The certificate of compliance must be signed by the authorized official of the manufacturer.

A manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer is prohibited from selling any mattress not in compliance with the chemical flame retardant requirements beginning December 1, 2024.  To avoid a violation, the wholesaler or retailer needs to obtain a certificate of compliance from the manufacturer for any mattress sold to them by that manufacturer beginning December 1. This effectively permits a retailer to sell-through mattresses in their possession prior to December 1, 2024 without a certificate of compliance. This also effectively provides an affirmative defense to a retailer or wholesaler with the manufacturer ultimately responsible for any compliance liability.

It is not clear whether a manufacturer who is also a direct sale retailer needs to provide a certificate of compliance to itself for retail sale. This requirement would arguably be immaterial where the retailer is the manufacturer since the manufacturer bears the ultimate liability.

ISPA encourages you to consult with your legal counsel on this matter.

Notably, modacrylic fiber components without antimony trioxide and aramid fibers used in certain manners are exempt from the prohibitions in this Act until January 1, 2026. ISPA is actively engaged in New York to address this part of the law; to remove the ban completely or at least give manufacturers more time to come into compliance.

For more information, please see the Member Alert that ISPA issued on September 17, 2024, which goes into additional details and next steps.  

Please contact ISPA’s Government Affairs department with any questions regarding this matter at [email protected].