U.S. – November 2021 California Proposition 65 – 60-Day Notices Analysis

Vol. 1281 | 28 Dec 2021

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, district attorney, certain city attorneys, or by any individual acting in the public’s interest. Prop 65 requires that an individual acting in public interest is to enforce the Act by giving 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 November 2021, there were a total of 257 60-day violation notices served for Prop 65, similar to 254 notices served in October 2021. Many of the notices were for Phthalates, which accounts for 51.4 % of notices issued. Lead, registering at nearly 25%, had a count of 64 notices issued.

Reviewing by categories, food accounted for 86 notices (33%), while Bags & Cases had 63 notices which were all for phthalates. Beauty and personal care products had 28 notices, noticeably, there were 13 notices for benzene in this category for items such as sunscreens and antiperspirants. Additionally, tools accounted for 9 notices; Sports and Outdoors accounted for 8 notices for phthalates and lead. Externally decorated glass and ceramics had 6 notices for lead. Remarkably, there were 3 notices for phthalates in footwear products, 2 notices for apparel products, 1 for phthalates in coat, and 1 for Bisphenol A (BPA) in socks.

For questions, please contact Stella Xingyu Li (xingyu.li@intertek.com, +1 503 351 9612) or Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com , +1 847 212 8273).