Best Office Chairs Europe

EN 16139 and EN 1728: strength and durability for chairs

The standards for the chairs around the desk rather than at it, and the test methods that sit underneath every European seating standard.

Updated By The Best Office Chairs Europe editorial team7 sources

EN 16139 sets safety, strength and durability requirements for non-domestic seating such as visitor, meeting and café chairs; it excludes office work chairs. EN 1728 is the toolbox of strength and durability test methods that EN 16139 and EN 1335-2 both call up. EN 1022 does the same for stability.

Where EN 1335-2 loads a work chair in testingStatic loads: seat 1600 N, backrest 560 N, front edge 1600 N; armrest durability 400 N for 60000 cycles; 240000 seat and back durability cycles in total. Test methods from EN 1728.560 NBackrest, static400 NArmrest, 60k cycles1600 NSeat, static1600 NFront edge, static240,000seat and back durability cyclesEN 1335-2:2018 TEST LOADS · METHODS OF EN 1728
Loads from EN 1335-2:2018, which uses the test methods of EN 1728. Arrows show where the loads are applied; the drawing is schematic.

What does EN 16139 cover?

The current edition is EN 16139:2025, which replaced EN 16139:2013 (+AC:2013). According to the Swedish standards body SIS, it covers non-domestic seating, including office visitor chairs, for adults up to 110 kg. It excludes:

  • office work chairs
  • ranked seating
  • educational chairs
  • outdoor seating
  • industrial work chairs

It has no requirements for upholstery durability, castors, recline and tilt mechanisms or seat-height mechanisms. Those parts matter on a task chair, which is one reason a swivel chair should be tested to EN 1335-2 rather than EN 16139. A draft amendment (prA1) was listed at an early stage in 2026.

What are Level 1 and Level 2?

The 2013 edition defined two test levels by the severity of use. As described by SGS:

EN 16139 levels
LevelUseTypical settings (2013 wording)
Level 1General usegeneral use (offices, cafés, restaurants, banks, bars)
Level 2Extreme useextreme use (night-clubs, police stations, transport terminals, prisons)

We could not confirm whether the 2025 edition keeps exactly this wording; its informative Annex F links test severity to applications. Level 2 is about harder use, not about heavier users: the 110 kg basis is the same.

What is EN 1728?

EN 1728:2012 (+AC:2013) describes how to test the strength and durability of every kind of seating: static loads on seat, back, front edge, arms and footrest, and repeated-cycle durability tests. It sets no pass or fail limits. The loads and cycle counts that a chair must survive come from the requirement standard that calls it up, such as EN 1335-2 for office work chairs or EN 16139 for visitor chairs. A claim of "tested to EN 1728" on its own therefore says little: ask which requirement standard and level the loads came from.

And EN 1022?

EN 1022 covers stability: whether a chair tips forwards, sideways or backwards under defined loads. The current edition is EN 1022:2023. EN 1335-2:2018 still cites the 2018 edition, so office chairs are tested to that method. CATAS reports the forward-overturning load as 600 N vertical plus 20 N horizontal, rising to 1,100 N for swivel seating with a footrest.

What should buyers and specifiers ask?

  • For a task chair: EN 1335-1 Type and EN 1335-2, ideally with the GS mark. EN 16139 is the wrong standard.
  • For visitor, meeting and canteen chairs: EN 16139, and which level. Level 2 for heavy public use.
  • For 24/7 control rooms: neither standard is written for round-the-clock use; ask the maker for its multi-shift testing and warranty terms. Some makers, such as Flokk and Wilkhahn, publish separate warranty terms for use beyond 9 or 10 hours a day.

Back to office chair standards, or read EN 1335 explained.

Questions buyers ask

What is the weight limit for EN 16139 Level 1?

EN 16139 covers seating for adults up to 110 kg, the same basis as EN 1335-2. Level 1 and Level 2 describe the severity of use (general vs extreme), not a higher user weight.

Does EN 16139 apply to office swivel chairs?

No. EN 16139 explicitly excludes office work chairs, which are covered by EN 1335. It applies to visitor, meeting, café and other non-domestic chairs.

Sources

  1. SIS: SS-EN 16139:2025: www.sis.se/en/produkter/domestic-and-commercial-equipment-entertainment-sports/furniture/s
  2. Genorma: EN 16139:2025 prA1: genorma.com/en/standards/en-16139-2025-pra1
  3. SGS SafeGuard 075/13 on EN 16139:2013 levels (PDF): newsletter.sgs.com/eNewsletterPro/uploadedimages/000006/sgs-safeguards-07513-a-new-en-stan
  4. BSI: EN 1728:2012: knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/furniture-seating-test-methods-for-the-determination-of-st
  5. SIS: EN 1022 (2018, replaced by 2023): www.sis.se/en/produkter/domestic-and-commercial-equipment-entertainment-sports/furniture/s
  6. CATAS: EN 1022 and EN 1335-2 (PDF): catas.com/uploads/media/articolo-1022-eng.pdf?v2
  7. UNMS preview of EN 1335-2:2018: normy.normoff.gov.sk/norma/128442/nahlad

All sources checked 20 October 2026. Where a manufacturer does not publish a value, we say so rather than estimate it.

Cite this page

Best Office Chairs Europe, “EN 16139 and EN 1728: strength and durability for chairs”, https://bestofficechairs.eu/standards/en-16139-en-1728/, updated .