New Warning of California Proposition 65 Coming into effect

On August 30, 2016, the Office of Administrative Law approved the adoption of amendments to Article 6, Clear and Reasonable Warnings, of California Proposition 65 (Hereinafter referred to as “new regulation”) and provided a two-year transition period.

Namely, it will be operative on August 30, 2018, whenthe warning should be labeled according to the new regulation other than the old one.

However, many enterprises are still full of doubts about the new regulation in these days. CTT has sorted out the relevant requirements. Starting from the background of California Proposition 65, CTT will help you get a deeper understanding of the new warning requirements.

Part1 About California Proposition65

█What is California Proposition 65?

In 1986, California voters approved an initiative to address their growing concerns about exposure to toxic chemicals. That initiative became the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known by its original name of Proposition 65 (CA Prop65).

█How to control the chemicals in CA Prop65?

CA Prop65 requires the State to publish a list of chemicals known to cause cancer or birth defects or other reproductive harm, and to update the list at least annually. This list currently contains more than 900 chemicals, over 500 of them are known to cause cancer and over 300 to cause birthdefects or other reproductive harm.

CA Prop65 requires businesses to provide warnings to Californians about significant exposures to chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. These chemicals can be in the products that Californians purchase, in their homes or workplaces, or that are released into the environment. By requiring that this information be provided, CA Prop65 enables Californians to make informed decisions about their exposures to these chemicals. CA Prop65 also prohibits California businesses from knowingly discharging significant amounts of listed chemicals into sources of drinking water.

█What products are controlled by CA Prop65?

Since any product containing a list of chemicals may expose or release these substances, CA Prop65 covers almost all products. In addition, some cases show that the product packaging has been concerned as well.

Part2 New warning requirements

Do you understand more about CA Prop65 now? Let's move on to the new warning label requirements. As mentioned earlier by CTT, the new Clear and Reasonable Warnings will be effective on August 30, 2018. And:

❖Businesses can comply with either the new regulation or the old one during the two-year transition period (from August 30, 2016 to August 29, 2018).

❖ Businesses can begin using warnings that conform with the new regulation at any time from August 30, 2018.

❖However, the new regulation excludes consumer products manufactured prior to August 30, 2018 and labeled in compliance with the old warning regulation, and products covered by court approved settlements.

█What are the ways to provide safe harbor warnings for consumer product exposures?

The safe harbor methods and content for providing a warning can be found in Sections 25602 and 25603. Section 25602(a) describes four safe harbor warning methods:

(1) A product-specific warning provided on aposted sign, shelf tag, or shelf sign, for the consumer product at each point of display of the product.

(2) A product-specific warning provided via any electronic device or process that automatically provides the warning to the purchaser prior to or during the purchase of the consumer product, instead of requiring the purchaser to seek out the warning.

(3) A warning label on products or/and exterior packaging (that complies with the content requirements in Section 25603(a) (Typical expression)).

(4) An on-product warning (that complies with the content requirements in Section 25603(b)).

(The entire warning must be in a type size no smaller than the largest type size used for other consumer information on the product. In no case shall the warning appear in a type size smaller than 6-point type.)

█What is the sample warningin the new regulation?

Fig.1: An example of new warning (for achemical can cause cancer)

(For more examples, you can see the following website:)https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/warning-translations-businesses/listed-carcinogens）

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So, the warning in new regulation should include all the following elements:

(1)A symbol ()：

It is consisted of a black exclamation point in a yellowe quilateral triangle with a bold black outline. Where the sign, label or shelf tag for the product is not printed in yellow color, the symbol may be printed in black and white.The symbol shall be placed to the left of the text of the warning, in a size no smaller than the height of the word “WARNING”.)

(2)The word “WARNING”：

It should be in all capital letters and bold print.

(3)The content:

It should include the name of chemicals and endpoints (cancer or reproductive toxicity).

(4) The website of OEHHA.

█What are the differences between the new and old warning?

The summary has been listed in table1 (for the chemical can cause cancer).

Table 1: The differences between the new and old sample warning

【Q&A】What if a product contains more than one listed chemicals(for example, chemicals are A and B) requiring a Proposition 65 warning? Do all two chemicals need to be named in the warning?

The warning must include the name of one or more chemicals for each endpoint (both cancer and reproductive toxicity). That is to say,

(1)If the endpoints of A and B are the same, both of them can only cause cancer or only reproductive toxicity, the warning can only list A or B or both of A and B.

(2)If the endpoints of A and B are different, for example, A can cause cancer and B can cause reproductive toxicity, the warning should list both A and B.

(3)If A is carcinogen and reproductive toxicants (two endpoints) and B is reproductive toxicant, the warning can list only A for two endpoints, or add B for cancer toxicity.

✓Let’s take an example,

If the product contains lead and DEHP requiring a warning, both of which can not only cause cancer but also cause reproductive toxicity by checking in the website, the warning (typical expression) can be expressed in more ways as bellows:

(a) Both of lead and DEHP listed:

(b) Only lead listed (because lead contains two endpoints)

(c) Only DEHP listed (because DEHP contains two endpoints)

(The endpoints for CA Prop65 Listed Chemicals can be checked by clicking:https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/chemicals）

Part3 Response measures for enterprises

How do businesses respond to CA Prop65? CTT suggests:

(1) Assess chemicals according to the cases caused by similar products.

(2) Evaluate other high risk listed chemicals according to the materials.

(3) Evaluate the high concerned listed chemicals according to the newly added chemicals, and hot spots in the industry.

（http://www.cttlab.com/news_details.php?serial=1153）

As a professional third-party testing company, CTT pays close attention to the relevant cases and the new development of Listed Chemicals in

CA Prop65. CTT can help you comply with CA Prop65 smoothly. Please feel free to contact us for any consultation.