Abstract: Current national standard for plywood GB/T 9846 in China was enacted in 1988, and revised for the first time in 2004. The formaldehyde emission level of plywood was reduced greatly and the test method of free formaldehyde was also improved in the past 20 years, but the method employed in the national standard was still 10 L desiccator method, which was adopted from Japan non-identically with respect to specimen number, color temperature etc. However, in western countries, climate chamber method and gas analysis predominated the test method. So far, our national standard failed to gain international recognition. In addition, the national standard set a loose limitation on formaldehyde emission, and lead to the difficulty to test on plywood for export purpose which may lead to failure to meet the emission standard of formaldehyde of the destination country. Now, plywood product could produce little or no formaldehyde emission,and acetyl acetone method with relative high detection limit was still employed in the standard. In order to test on plywood with low formaldehyde emission, phenol reagent method and high performance liquid chromatography of higher accuracy could be applied in test.