Regulations · March 20, 2026
Children's goods: how the age of the child determines the form of the document
Age groups, clothing layers, testing and label requirements.
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17 min
Furniture is a category where documents depend not on paper but on the material. You can prepare the application perfectly and still fail the formaldehyde emission tests on ordinary laminated chipboard. And you learn this on a board from which the whole batch has already been cut.
What falls under the regulation
TR CU 025/2012 applies to furniture products. These are items for furnishing residential and public premises, and also furniture for educational institutions and for children.
- Case furniture: wardrobes, chests of drawers, shelving, kitchens and tables
- Upholstered furniture: sofas, armchairs and mattresses
- Chairs and stools, including office chairs
- Beds, including children’s cots
- Furniture for bathrooms and hallways
- Tables and desks for educational institutions
The regulation does not apply to medical furniture, commercial and specialized equipment, built-in structures made as part of a building, and used furniture.
Components are not furniture A laminated chipboard (LDSP) board, fittings, transformation mechanisms and upholstery fabric fall under their own requirements as materials. A document for the board does not confirm the conformity of the finished wardrobe. This is the most frequent substitution: the supplier sends papers for the material, and papers for the product are needed.
Certification or declaration
The form depends on who the furniture is intended for.
| Products | Form |
|---|---|
| Furniture for children and teenagers | Certification |
| Furniture for educational institutions | Certification |
| Household furniture for adults | Declaration |
| Furniture for public premises | Declaration |
The line is drawn by the intended use and not by size. A bed 160 cm long can be for a teenager or for an adult; what decides is how you declare it and how you sell it. If the product card says “children’s”, the document must be a certificate and not a declaration.
Formaldehyde: the main stumbling block
Wood-based boards (laminated chipboard, MDF and plywood) release formaldehyde from the binding resins. The regulation limits the emission, and the requirements are stricter for furniture intended for children.
What you need to know before you buy the material:
- The board has an emission class, which the board manufacturer states in its documents
- For children’s furniture, only a board with low emission is suitable
- Edge banding affects the result: an open edge releases noticeably more
- A fresh board “emits” more, so the ageing time after production matters
- A change of board supplier is a reason to repeat the tests, even if the brand is the same
The practical conclusion: you must demand the emission class of the board from the supplier in writing and keep these papers. When the tests show an excess, the question will not be “how to issue the documents again” but “what is the batch made of”.
What the laboratory checks
| Group | What is determined |
|---|---|
| Chemical safety | Release of formaldehyde and other volatile substances from the materials |
| Stability | Tipping over when drawers are pulled out or when a load is placed on a door |
| Strength and durability | Cyclic loads: opening doors, pulling out drawers, load on the seat |
| Safety of the design | No sharp edges and burrs, protection of mechanisms, gaps |
| Soft elements | Hygiene indicators of the upholstery and the filling, colour fastness |
| Children’s furniture | In addition, dimensional requirements and higher emission standards |
Tests for stability and cyclic loads are destructive: you cannot sell a sample after them. Include this in the calculation, especially for expensive items.
Tipping over is not a formality A tall chest of drawers that tips over when the top drawer is pulled out is a typical cause of injuries to children. This is why for furniture above a certain height the set includes a fixing to the wall, and the instructions include the requirement to use it. The absence of fixings in the box is equal to an incomplete product.
Labelling and instructions
For furniture, the requirements for accompanying information are more detailed than in many other categories, and they are checked first.
- Name of the product and its functional purpose
- Manufacturer, its address and country of origin
- Importer and person for accepting claims
- Date of manufacture
- Overall dimensions, and functional dimensions for children’s furniture
- Materials: both structural and upholstery
- Warranty period and service life
- Unified circulation mark of the EAEU (EAC)
- Assembly and operating instructions in Russian
The instructions are a mandatory part and not a service for the buyer. For furniture that is assembled by the buyer, they include the assembly diagram, the requirements for fixing to the wall, the permitted loads and the care rules. A set without instructions is formally incomplete.
Upholstered furniture: two regulations instead of one
A sofa is not only a frame. The upholstery materials and the fillings are assessed under their own requirements, and fire safety is added here: resistance to ignition from a smouldering cigarette is a standard test for upholstered furniture.
What to request from the supplier of the upholstery and the filling:
- The composition of the material and the documents for it
- Indicators of resistance to ignition
- Colour fastness to rubbing and sweat, because the upholstery touches the skin
- Hygiene indicators of the filling
Replacing the upholstery fabric with another one on the same frame is a change of the product and not a cosmetic change in the range.
Importing furniture
Importing adds two difficulties that are better solved before the contract.
- The samples are bulky. Bringing a wardrobe for tests costs more than it seems. Sometimes it is more sensible to carry out the tests at the manufacturer’s site or to order a separate shipment of samples in advance.
- The foreign factory has its own documents for materials. Foreign emission classes do not always correspond directly to our requirements. You need a check of conformity and not a mechanical transfer.
- The range is wide. Furniture factories supply dozens of item numbers. Work out what can be combined into one group of similar products and what needs separate documents.
- Assembly instructions. They must be in Russian. A machine translation of the assembly diagram is a source of both claims and returns.
Typical mistakes
| Mistake | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Documents for the board instead of the finished product | The product is left without conformity assessment |
| The product card says “children’s bed”, and the document is a declaration | Wrong form of conformity assessment; the product card is blocked |
| The board supplier was changed, and the documents are the same | The emission may have changed, and the evidence does not relate to the batch |
| The upholstery was replaced, and the documents were not reviewed | The material is different, so the product is different |
| There is no wall fixing in the set | The product is incomplete, and there is a risk of a safety claim |
| There are no assembly instructions in Russian | A violation of the requirements for accompanying information |
| One document for the whole factory range without analysis | Some item numbers are left uncovered |
Action plan
- Determine the intended use: children’s and educational furniture is certified, and the rest is declared
- Request from the board supplier the documents with the emission class and keep them
- For upholstered furniture, collect the documents for the upholstery and the filling, including the fire indicators
- Group the range: what can be combined into similar products and what cannot
- Plan samples for destructive tests and the logistics of delivering them
- Prepare the assembly instructions and check that the fixings are complete
- Agree the labelling layout before printing
- Record in the contract the factory’s duty to notify you about a change of board, upholstery and fittings
If your range includes goods for children in addition to furniture, check the analysis of TR CU 007/2011. How to select samples correctly so that the test report relates to your batch is explained in a separate article, and what the marketplaces ask for is explained in the article on documents for marketplaces.
Check your product Describe the piece of furniture in ordinary words and say who it is intended for. The system will determine the form of conformity assessment and the set of documents. Start the check.
