The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California Environmental Protection Agency has released a new guidance for businesses in scope of  the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, known as ‘Proposition 65’. The guidance takes the form of a detailed ‘Q&A’ on the Act’s “clear and reasonable warning” requirement.

The State of California maintains and publishes a list of chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects and/or reproductive harm to humans. As per Article 6 of the California Code, manufacturers using these substances in quantities above the ‘safe harbor threshold’ must communicate this information to customers through labeling on products, public notices or relevant signage.


How well do you understand your Prop 65 obligations? Learn from real-life enforcement case studies and regulatory expertise in the whitepaper, Proposition 65: Understanding the Safe Drinking Water & Toxic Enforcement Act.


This new Q&A comes almost a year after important amendments were made to Article 6 to make warnings more helpful to the public. Changes included the implementation of tailored warnings for specific product categories, stronger language on manufacturer’s labeling responsibilities and new obligations on the citing of specific substances triggering warnings. The significance here is that products manufactured after August 30, 2018, must adhere to these new requirements or face fines and other enforcement actions.

To help companies meet this deadline, the Q&A discusses the methods used for consumer product exposure warnings, clarifies the content required within these warnings (label size, language considerations, chemical names, etc.), and more.

Access the Q&A here for more detailed information. For more information, be sure to read our free Proposition 65 knowledge article.

Assent’s regulatory team is on hand to answer all of your Proposition 65 questions. Contact us to speak with a specialist, or book a free demo of our Chemical Reporting Solution, which helps companies collect and manage the supply chain data essential to strong compliance with Proposition 65.

Leila Nasr
Regulatory Writer

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