Why a sofa has no Euroclass

In short. The Euroclass is the language of construction products. A sofa, an armchair, a mattress are not construction products: they have a regime of their own, Italian homologation, and a class of their own, 1 IM. This is where the line runs between a furnishing and a construction product, and how to write a clause someone can verify.

What is a specification asking for when it writes "Euroclass B-s1,d0"?

It is asking for a European reaction-to-fire classification under EN 13501-1: a letter, from A1 to F, followed by two indices, s for smoke production and d for flaming droplets — the designation found on panels, suspended ceilings, wall coverings and floorings.

That standard states its own scope: it classifies construction products, including those incorporated within building elements, the only explicit exclusion being power, control and communication cables. And a construction product, in the sense of European Regulation 305/2011, is a product made to be permanently incorporated in construction works.

A sofa is not. An armchair is not. A mattress is not. This is not a regulatory gap, as though nobody had got round to upholstery yet: it is a different regime.

Why can an upholstered piece not hold a Euroclass?

Because, not being a construction product, it has no harmonised technical specification against which to be CE-marked, and the Euroclass is the language of that regime. For items that fall outside it, Italy has its own older system: the homologation set out in the ministerial decree of 26 June 1984, later amended — among others by the decree of 3 September 2001.

For upholstery the test is UNI 9175, the small-flame test on upholstered furniture. It measures afterflame time and afterglow time, and yields three classes: 1.IM, 2.IM, 3.IM, best to worst. An upholstered piece that does not even reach 3.IM is not classified at all: there is no worse class to fall back on.

The document that travels with the piece, therefore, is not a European declaration of performance: it is a homologation, with a conformity mark stating the maker, the year, the class, the homologation reference, the intended use and the maintenance instructions, or else a declaration of conformity to the homologated prototype. Two fields on that mark are the ones that cause arguments on site: intended use and method of installation. A homologation issued for a tensile structure's cover does not cover the same material hung as a curtain in a bedroom.

Where does the line run inside a hotel bedroom?

Two regimes coexist in the same room, and the line does not follow the common intuition about what counts as "furniture". Asking for "Italian class 1" on a CE-marked suspended ceiling is the mirror image of asking for a Euroclass on a sofa. The soundest way to hold the line is to read the tables in the Italian fire prevention code.

The code, the decree of 3 August 2015, does not work in classes but in material groups, GM0 to GM4: group GM0 gathers materials of Italian class 0 or Euroclass A1, group GM4 everything not falling in the better groups. The tables in the reaction-to-fire chapter state, material by material, which Italian class and which Euroclass lead to which group.

The table covering furnishing materials, stage sets and tensile-structure covers has these rows: upholstered furniture — in brackets, armchairs, sofas, mattresses, bed bases, pillows, toppers, cushions — bedding, non-upholstered seating, tensile-structure covers, stage curtains, drapes, window curtains and sets. On every one of them the Euroclass column reads "[na]": not applicable. It is the same fact set out as a table. The table covering lining and finishing materials lists suspended ceilings, linings and floorings, and there the Euroclasses are all present.

One practical caution: in a specification it is better to cite the material category than the table number. The numbering has changed across revisions of the code; the words "upholstered furniture" have not.

What if the hotel is designed to the 1994 decree rather than the code?

It may be, and many are. Tourist accommodation kept the dual track even after the decree of 12 April 2019, in force from 20 October 2019, which made the code the sole reference for forty-two categories of activity. Hotels may be designed either to the decree of 9 April 1994 or to the code with its vertical rule for tourist accommodation, introduced by the decree of 9 August 2016 for premises with more than twenty-five beds.

The 1994 decree, at clause 6.2, distinguishes six cases, and the required class is not a single one:

• class 1 up to fifty per cent of the surface in circulation areas, the remainder class 0;
• floorings class 2 and other linings class 1 in other rooms;
• exposed insulation no higher than class 1;
• materials liable to catch fire on both faces — and the decree names curtains expressly — must be of class not higher than 1;
• upholstered furniture and mattresses must be class 1 IM.

On one point the two tracks do not overlap. A ministerial note of 23 February 2000 clarified that pillows, bed bases, bed linen and quilts do not fall under the class 1 IM obligation of clause 6.2, whereas the code's table lists them among upholstered furniture. The list of items involved is not identical on the two routes, and it is worth knowing before signing.

So what should a specification say?

Three distinct lines instead of one general one. For upholstery: class 1 IM to UNI 9175, with homologation of the prototype or declaration of conformity to the homologated prototype, referring to the finished assembly and not to the fabric alone. For linings, suspended ceilings and floorings: the full Euroclass with its indices, the classification standard and the declaration of performance. For curtains, drapes and non-upholstered seating: the Italian class, with the use declared on the homologation matching the real one.

Whoever asks for a Euroclass on a sofa will, at best, receive the fabric's certificate and accept it for the assembly. That is the point at which conformity is lost without anyone noticing, and the page on Class 1 IM hotel furniture goes into that step in detail.

Why an impossible clause costs time, not money

A requirement with no corresponding document is not discovered when the order is signed. It is discovered when the documentation is handed over, when the project manager asks for a declaration no manufacturer can issue, and the supply stops there.

On a hotel project that bill is not counted in euros: it is counted in weeks of rooms that cannot be sold, because the right document arrives late and the opening slips. What a well-written line protects is the opening date, and that is when the client starts invoicing — which is why documentation is asked for when the supply calendar is built.

How we work

A homologated prototype only holds if the assembly stays the one that was tested: the same frame, the same foam, the same cover. Working frames, timber and upholstery in the same plant is what makes it possible to know, piece by piece, which prototype an item answers to.

It is also why choosing the cover is not an aesthetic step separate from the rest: the leather or fabric chosen is part of the tested assembly, and belongs in the design decisions rather than after them.

Frequently asked questions

Does a fabric with Euroclass B-s1,d0 make the sofa compliant?

No, for two reasons that compound. A fabric's Euroclass concerns the fabric used as a construction product, not the behaviour of the upholstered assembly; and the classification of an upholstered piece is obtained by testing the assembly, not the components one by one.

Is there a conversion table between Euroclasses and Italian classes?

For construction products, the code's tables map the two families onto each other through the material groups. For upholstered furniture there is none: the European column reads "not applicable", because there is nothing to map.

What if the use stated on the homologation is not the real one?

That is a point to settle before installation, not after. A homologation authorises a class for a declared use and method of installation: if the material is used differently, the document does not cover that use.

What should a specification say so it does not ask for the impossible?

Three distinct lines instead of one general one: for upholstery, class 1 IM to UNI 9175 with homologation of the prototype referring to the finished assembly; for linings, suspended ceilings and floorings, the full Euroclass with its indices and the declaration of performance; for curtains, drapes and non-upholstered seating, the Italian class, with the use declared on the homologation matching the real one.

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The standards, classes and decrees on this page are verified at source, and remain general guidance: the requirement that governs is the one in the approved fire strategy, to be read with whoever signed it.