U.S. – December 2021 California Proposition 65 – 60-Day Notices Analysis

Vol. 1290 | 22 Feb 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 individuals 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 December 2021, there were a total of 221 60-day notices for violation of Prop 65, down from the 257 notices served in November 2021. Most of the notices were for Phthalates, accounting for 37%. There were nearly as many notices related to lead which made up 35% of all notices.

Of the remaining notices, 23 notices were for cadmium, arsenic, or acrylamide in food. 25 notices were for benzene, DEA / Cocamide DEA, asbestos, benzene, or titanium dioxide in beauty & personal care products.  7 notices were for Bisphenol A in a variety of products such as socks, bags and cases, and cell phone accessories. There were also notices for N-Nitrosodiethylamine in exercise bands, wood dust in sawdust, and delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol in CBD oil.

Food accounted for 76 notices (34%). Bags & Cases had 34 notices, beauty & personal care products accounted for 27 notices, reusable packaging had 10 notices. Sports and outdoor products and externally decorated glass products had 10 notices each and dietary supplements had 9.

For questions, please contact Matthew Nudell (matthew.nudell@intertek.com, +1 716-225-9006) or Pratik Ichhaporia (pratik.ichhaporia@intertek.com , +1 847 212 8273).