U.S. – October 2019 California Proposition 65 – 60-Day Notices Analysis

Vol. 1117 | 20 Nov 2019

The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly referred to as Proposition 65 (Prop 65), is enforced by the California Attorney General’s office or any district attorney or certain city attorneys or by any individual acting in the public interest. Prop 65 requires that an individual acting in the public interest, to enforce the Act give notice of the impending action to the person alleged to be committing the violation, along with the Attorney General, district attorneys and certain city attorneys in which the violation is alleged to have occurred. The notice must be sent to these parties no less than 60 days before commencing the action; thus this notice is commonly referred to as the “60-day Notice of Violation”.

In October 2019, there were 195 60-day notices served for the violation of Prop 65, which was about 15% higher than the 60-day notices served in September 2019 (167 notices). A total of 58% of the notices were for exposure to phthalates, 19% of notices were for exposure to lead and the remaining were for other chemicals.

Bags, which include pouches and cases, accounted for 22% of the notices (1 notice for lead and 42 notices for phthalate content), followed by food with 15% of the notices (1 notice for lead and 28 notices for other substances), and hardware with 13% of the notices (21 notices for lead and 4 notices for phthalate content).

There were 8 notices served for hexavalent chromium: 7 for various types of gloves & 1 for footwear; 6 notices for phthalate content in bedding packaging; 4 notices for bisphenol-A in kitchen accessories; and 8 notices for phthalate content in footwear (flip flops & sandals).

A detailed analysis of the Prop 65 60-day notices for October 2019 is below:

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For questions, please contact Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com, +1-847-212-8273).