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

Vol. 1302 | 12 May 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 April 2022, there were a total of 185 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65. The majority of the notices were for Lead (44 %) and Phthalates (36%). The remaining 20% were notices for the presence of other chemicals.

Of the reported notices, bags and cases had 13 notices for the presence of phthalates. 12 notices were served for the presence of phthalates in the packaging of various consumer products. Externally decorated glass and ceramics had 11 notices for lead; dietary supplements had 10 notices; sports and outdoors accounted for 9 notices.

Noticeably, one notice was served for the presence of Hexavalent Chromium in leather aprons. 10 notices were served for bisphenol A (BPA) chemicals in various items such as covers, footwear, and sports & outdoors. The category of beauty and personal care had 9 notices, with two notices for the presence of phthalates. The remaining items received notices for the presence of other chemicals such as Titanium Dioxide and Diethanolamine.

For local and worldwide companies manufacturing and/or operating in the state of California, Intertek’s Prop 65 compliance services provide the expert support and laboratory testing qualifications needed to comply with regulations and mitigate complexities. Simply contact us.

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).