Pennsylvania Variance Petition Guide

If you would like to include a term on your product’s law label that is not pre-approved by the state of Pennsylvania, you will have to apply for a Pennsylvania variance before going to market in the state.

This guide covers the ins and outs of Pennsylvania variances, and the steps you can take to ensure a successful variance submission.

What is a Pennsylvania Variance?

Pennsylvania has a list of approved terms they allow on law labels (found in §47.1 of their Bedding and Upholstery Regulations and §47.311 of their Stuffed Toy Regulations). If a term not on this list is used on a law label, it is technically not “acceptable” by the state. This can lead to license application rejection or marketplace violations. 

However, Pennsylvania realizes that other U.S. states may require terms that are not on their regulatory list. For instance, the states of California, Connecticut, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah require a supplemental description of filling terminology in addition to the generic textile names of the filling. Common examples that need supplemental descriptions are pad, batting, shredded, resinated or resin-treated, beads, and gel.

To get ahead of those discrepancies, Pennsylvania enacted variance petitions as a way for companies to use 'unapproved' terms on their law labels. If your company is granted a variance petition by Pennsylvania, they will approve terminology that is not on this predetermined list to be printed on the product's law label. 

The Industrial Board Meeting Schedule

The Pennsylvania Industrial Board only meets once per month. The dates for those meetings are set in December for the following year. You can view future meeting dates here. 

For the remainder of 2025, the board’s meeting dates are:

• August 20, 2025
• September 17, 2025
• October 15, 2025
• November 19, 2025
• December 17, 2025

The Review Process

When you submit a petition for a Pennsylvania variance, it must be reviewed by the Department of Labor & Industry's Bedding & Upholstery and Stuffed Toys Licensing Team. They follow a strict review schedule in tandem with the Industrial Board's meeting schedule. 

Plan to submit your variance petition no less than 3 weeks in advance of the next meeting date for your paperwork to be reviewed and approved to be added to that month's meeting agenda. If any part of the paperwork is incorrect or missing information, it will be rejected and will not be eligible for that month's meeting agenda.

The recommended submission dates for 2025 are no later than:

• August 1, 2025 for August review
• August 29, 2025 for September review
• September 26, 2025 for October review
• October 31, 2025 for November review
• November 28, 2025 for December review

Required Documents

You will need to submit the following information for your Pennsylvania variance request:

1. Copy of the Pennsylvania application bedding & upholstery or stuffed toy application or Pennsylvania bedding & upholstery or stuffed toy license (if already registered)
2. Copy of the URN-issuing license (if not issued from Pennsylvania)
3. Industrial Board Petition for variance 
4. PDF of the law label(s) for that URN that include the term(s) that are being requested
5. Variance fee*
6. If submitting with an application, also must submit the fee for the new license*

All company information listed on the documentation must match exactly, or it may be rejected. Multiple terms can be submitted across multiple labels for a single URN. Variance approvals are per term and per URN. Approvals do not expire and do not require an annual fee after they are issued.

*Pennsylvania's fees are updated annually in November based on the state's CPI (consumer price index).Visit their site for the current year's fee schedule. Pennsylvania offers an expedited fee for variance reviews to be added to the current month's Industrial Board meeting if you missed the deadline for the paperwork review. However, this is not recommended since the fee is steep (+$1,600) and the petition review still follows the monthly schedule.

How GRS Can Help

If you are registering a new product through GRS, we can streamline the Pennsylvania variance process by adding a variance petition with the other applications and forms being completed.

If you are already licensed in Pennsylvania, we can assist with filing the variance petition at any time if you either:

1. Learn through a filling analysis that your product's filling requires terminology that requires variance, or 
2. Introduce a new product manufactured at the same facility that has a filling that requires “unapproved” terminology 

We can ensure accurate submission to avoid any delays and make sure your petition is reviewed at the soonest Industrial Board meeting. However, we do recommend one extra step before filing a PA variance: completing a filling analysis.

Filling Analysis

One of the most common issues that companies run into with Pennsylvania variances is incorrect filling terminology listed on the law label. More than 90% of the labels we review at GRS have filling materials/percentages proven incorrect through product testing.

For that reason, we recommend a filling analysis test to confirm your product’s exact filling materials and configuration that needs to be listed on the law labels. 

A filling analysis is already baked into the GRS registration process since Ohio requires it before they will issue a license. Should you enlist in our services, our team can review the test report, provide label corrections, and file the variance petition on your behalf.

Set Your Product Up for PA Variance Success

More and more retailers are requiring proof of a variance approval during pre-production testing, so get ahead of the testing and avoid shipping delays by submitting your variance petition in advance! 

If you would like to get started with a Pennsylvania variance, contact our Labeling Team and we’ll be in touch.