California's Air Resources Board (CARB), a division of the California EPA, is working to enact new regulations to reduce formaldehyde emissions from wood panels and products made from wood panels used in the state.

The new regulations will establish the most stringent formaldehyde emission limits on wood products in the United States. The measure requires that wood panels and products manufactured from wood panels be certified by a "third party" laboratory approved by the CARB as meeting California's emissions requirements. Panel manufacturers, importers, distributors, fabricators and installers can all be held responsible for assuring that their products comply. The new emissions limits are scheduled to be phased in starting 2009 and fully implemented in 2012. Click here to read the entire proposed regulation order.

Because structural wood products certified by APA under U.S. Product Standard PS 1 and PS 2 are manufactured with moisture resistant adhesives that emit formaldehyde at very low levels well below the CARB limits, the wood panels are exempt from the CARB regulations.