Statutory guidance

Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025: UK

Published 30 April 2025

Guidance on the regulations as they apply to domestic upholstered furniture being placed on the market in the United Kingdom.

1. Introduction

This guidance is designed to help businesses understand the changes made by the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 which come into force on 30 October 2025.

This statutory instrument was laid in Parliament on 30 April 2025, but in accordance with the United Kingdom’s obligations as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), did not take effect immediately upon being laid. This deferral period of 6 months is necessary to fulfil our international obligations.

This statutory instrument changes the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 to:

• remove certain baby and young children’s products from scope of the regulations
• remove the requirement for manufacturers to affix a display label to new products
• extend the time frame for instituting legal proceedings from 6 – 12 months

2. Legislative background

The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 set flammability requirements for domestic upholstered furniture supplied anywhere in the United Kingdom and were created using powers in the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

The changes brought about by the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 were informed by a public consultation held between August and October 2023 and were announced by the Government in January 2025.

Read the summary of responses to the consultation.

Read the paper on the fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture.

3. Complying with the amended Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988

The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 bring about several key changes from 30 October 2025. Manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers must understand and adapt to these amended provisions to ensure continued compliance with the updated regulatory landscape.

Removal of certain baby and children’s products

The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 set out a list of baby and children’s products to be excluded from scope of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988.

This will reduce the risk of exposure to chemical flame retardants of babies and young children at a significant stage in their development where the fire risk is lower than the chemical exposure risk. The fire risk of these products is much reduced compared to other upholstered furniture as they are not exposed to the same risks of accidental ignition, by cigarettes or similar ignition sources.

The products newly excluded are:

• Mattresses intended for use by babies and children, if the length is less than 170 cm and the width is less than 75 cm.
• Modular mattresses intended for use by babies and children, if the largest component has a length of less than 170 cm and a width of less than 75 cm – This means mattresses that can be extended with additional components, which are specifically designed to be used by babies and young children in conjunction with a children’s extendable bedframe.
• Upholstery designed to be used with baby furniture – This means upholstery products designed to be used alongside baby furniture. For example, pram sacks which are used within prams, car seat inserts, and products advertised as ‘snuzzlers’ which are designed to be used with baby seating.
• Play pens
• Children’s car seats
• Play mats
• Baby changing mats
• Prams, pushchairs, buggies and strollers
• Cots, cribs and cradles, including carry cots, bassinets, Moses baskets, travel cots and bedside sleepers.
• Cot bumpers
• Upholstered bed side barriers intended to be used to prevent a child falling out of bed.
• Baby rockers and bouncers – This includes products sold as ‘reclined cradles’.
• Baby nests
• Baby’s highchairs and lowchairs
• Chair-mounted and table-mounted children’s booster seats
• Baby walkers

Any upholstered baby accessories that are not items of furniture, and therefore do not meet the amended definition of furniture in Regulation 3(1), will also remain out of scope.

Products no longer in scope, following this revision, will need to meet the requirements of the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (GPSR) in Great Britain and EU Regulation 2023/988 on General Product Safety in Northern Ireland (EU GPSR).

Before placing a product on the GB market or supplying a product, or offering or agreeing to do so, the producer must ensure that it is a safe product. Similarly in NI, economic operators shall only place or make available on the market, safe products. In both cases this includes considering the fire safety of the product.

Read further guidance on complying with the requirements in GB.

Read further guidance on complying with the requirements in NI.

One way to demonstrate compliance with relevant product safety regulations is to follow agreed standards for the design and manufacture of your product type.

Businesses may wish to consider established international standards such as BS EN 1021 Parts 1 and 2 or BS EN 71 Part 2 to demonstrate compliance with GPSR and EU GPSR in respect of the fire safety of these products.

The Government recognises that these changes are being introduced without a transition period. As a result, businesses will have existing stock of the products being removed from scope and may not have sold all of those products in advance of 30 October 2025. Businesses will be able to continue selling those products, containing labels stating compliance with the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 indefinitely, as long as that labelling is an accurate representation of compliance.

Labelling requirements

The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 remove all requirements relating to a display label, also commonly known as a swing label, from the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. This includes removing the requirement for manufacturers to attach a relevant display label to new products, as it is considered that the permanent label carries all relevant compliance information

These changes do not impact obligations relating to the permanent label, a durable label attached to furniture as required by regulation 11 of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 and set out in Schedule 7 to the Regulations.

Second-hand supply of furniture will also still require a permanent label and suppliers of second-hand furniture should familiarise themselves with requirements of regulation 14 of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988, as amended.

The Government recognises that these changes are being introduced without a transition period. As a result, businesses will likely have existing stock of products that have a display label attached after 30 October 2025. If they choose to do so, businesses will be able to continue selling those products, containing display labels, as long as the labelling is an accurate representation of compliance.

The time limit to institute legal proceedings

The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 extends the time limit for enforcement authorities to begin legal proceedings in cases of non-compliance across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland from six to twelve months. This applies to offenses under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 pertaining to the 1988 Regulations.