U.S. – January 2022 California Proposition 65 – 60-Day Notices Analysis

Vol. 1292 | 02 Mar 2022

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 January 2022, there were a total of 188 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65. The majority of notices were for lead, accounting for 43 % while phthalates had a total of 54 notices, about 29% of the total number of notices. The remaining 28% were notices for the presence of other chemicals.

Food accounted for 70 notices. Bags & Cases had 29 notices, significantly pertaining to phthalates. Beauty and personal care products had 18 notices. Externally decorated glass and ceramics had 11 notices for lead. Sports and outdoors accounted for 8 notices. Tools accounted for 2 notices.

Noticeably, there were 2 notices for Formaldehyde in pillowcases. 17 notices issued for Bisphenol A: 3 for cellphone accessories, 2 for footwear, 2 for PPE, 1 for apparel, and 9 for other product categories. Three notices were served for the presence of Hexavalent Chromium in leather gloves, grill apron, and leather rifle string.

For questions, please contact Harini Ramaswamy (harini.ramaswamy@intertek.com, +1 847-871-1047 ) or Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com , +1 847 212 8273).