The implementation date of the "clear and reasonable warning" amendment was August 31, 2018. What have we learned since then? What are some best practices for approaching compliance? What will be the future of the regulation?
The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, better known as Proposition 65, requires businesses operating in the state of California to provide adequate warnings about exposure to, or the discharge of, chemicals that cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.
On August 30, 2018, an amendment of the current regulation will be implemented that changes how warnings labels should be displayed to the public. Here's a brief overview of the current regulation, the amendment, and what the change means for your company.
Proposition 65 Regulation (Expires on August 30th, 2018)
The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Prop 65) states that businesses must provide "clear and reasonable warnings" that chemicals used in the production of their goods or products sold in California are known to cause cancer, birth defects and/or other reproductive injuries. The list of chemicals is maintained by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) and updated on an annual basis.
Prop 65 Amendment Overview
The amendment to Prop 65 clarifies responsibility and accountability for communication of chemical information up and down the supply chain that ultimately reaches consumers. In addition, the amendment outlines previously unstated labeling responsibilities for online retailers and other specific industries. Finally, the amendment outlines what acceptable warnings are for an area and/or environmental spaces (i.e. Buildings, parks etc.).
New Prop 65 Penalties
The regulation stipulates that violators of Proposition 65 may face civil lawsuits filed by the California Attorney Generals office, a district attorney, city attorney of a city with a population greater than 750,000 or private parties acting in the public interest. A business found to have violated Proposition 65 may be subject to up to $2,500 per day for each violation.
Prop 65 Labeling Changes to Consider Now
Because changes to Prop 65 warning label requirements goes into effect August 2018, you'll want to consider the implementation timing for the following deliverables:
- Products on shelves after August 30th, 2018 will need to be re-labeled
- Educational resources need to be sent to suppliers to ensure accurate data is passed through the supply chain. (Education is a fundamental part of efficient data collection - learn more here)
- Careful evaluation of chemical levels in products to see if products exceed safe harbor levels.
- Logging product chemical information and is critical to understanding your unique labeling requirements. (Keep in mind - the Prop 65 chemical list is updated on an annual basis)
These are just some of the high-level considerations you should be thinking about as you prepare for Prop 65 labeling changes. Visit our Prop 65 Solution page for more information.
California Prop 65 Amendment Preparation Webinar
Source Intelligence, along with Wayne Rosenbaum recently debuted our Prop 65 Preparation webinar. Along with a detailed overview of internet warnings, here’s some of the topics we covered:
- Pre/post amendment regulation overview
- Labeling Variations
- Internet labeling, on-product labeling, packaging labeling, occupational labeling, public facility labeling and more unique situations.
- Bounty Hunter safeguarding best practices
- 60 day warning notice course of action overview
- Supply chain communication chain of custody
- Critical product information that needs to be passed through the supply chain
- Product chemical awareness
- Evidence-based data collection approach
- >Declarations vs. product analytics
- Enterprise vs. SME compliance workflow examples
