News

California’s OEHHA Adopts New Proposition 65 “Clear and Reasonable Warnings” Regulations

14 October 2016

Effective on August 30, 2018, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) will adopt new regulations regarding the manner in which clear and reasonable warnings should be given under the Proposition 65 (Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986). By way of brief background, Proposition 65 requires businesses to provide “clear and reasonable warnings” when they knowingly and intentionally cause an exposure to a listed chemical to any individual in California. Under the current Article 6 to Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations, the “clear and reasonable warnings” must be reasonably calculated, considering the alternative methods available under the circumstances, to make the warning message available to the individual prior to exposure.

OEHHA finds the current regulations lack the specificity necessary to ensure the public receives useful information about potential exposures. OEHHA intends to provide more useful information to California consumers through the new regulations. One of the many notable changes is the requirement that the warning needs to contain the name of one or more of the listed chemicals in the consumer products. OEHHA also tries to clarify the relative responsibilities of different parties in the supply chain to provide consumer product exposure warnings. Businesses have the option of continuing to comply with the current version of the regulations until August 30, 2018, or comply with these new regulations in advance of the effective date.

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Authored by Martin Hahn & Xin Tao.