The regulation requirements for upholstered furniture are nationally defined and lead to very different safety levels across Europe. This paper studies the fire performance of upholstered furniture across Europe and demonstrates the differences in the fire safety of sofas in different countries. Real sofas were purchased over Europe and tested first alone then for several of them in a room scenario. The fire performance of such upholstered furniture is related to their constitution and possibly to the improvement of their performance by physical and/or chemical means. Results are presented from a performance point of view and not focusing on the different technical solutions that can be envisaged, such as fire barriers or flame retardants. The results clearly show the effect of stricter regulations, not necessarily on the maximum heat release but mainly on the time available to escape, which is critical in many fire scenarios. Such regulations may have a positive effect, but they have to be performance‐based, evaluated properly, and implemented considering market surveillance.

中文翻译：

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欧洲家具防火法规的概述和实验分析

国家对软垫家具的法规要求进行了定义，并导致整个欧洲的安全水平大不相同。本文研究了整个欧洲的软垫家具的防火性能，并说明了不同国家沙发的防火安全性的差异。真正的沙发是在欧洲购买的，要先进行单独测试，然后在一个房间中对其中的几个进行测试。这种软垫家具的防火性能与其构造有关，并且可能与通过物理和/或化学手段改善其性能有关。从性能的角度给出了结果，而不是着眼于可以设想的不同技术解决方案，例如防火屏障或阻燃剂。结果清楚地表明了更严格的法规的效果，不一定取决于最大的散热量，而主要取决于可逃逸的时间，这在许多火灾情况下至关重要。此类法规可能会产生积极影响，但必须基于绩效，正确评估并在考虑市场监督的情况下实施。