Newsflash: What the New Proposition 65 Short-Form Warnings Mean for Consumer Products Companies

Read our latest reports of these proposals here.

What to Know

Key changes to the new regulation, effective January 1, 2025, include:

• Inclusion of Chemical Name: The amendment requires businesses to add at least one chemical name to short-form warnings. The regulation’s current format does not require identification of a specific chemical, only whether the detected chemical is identified in OEHHA’s list as a cancer or reproductive toxin.
• Warning Format: Instead of just “WARNING,” the amendment allows businesses to elect to display “CA WARNING” or “CALIFORNIA WARNING” on their short-form label. The amended regulation still requires inclusion of the infamous yellow triangle with the exclamation point inside and display of the Prop. 65 warning website.
• Label Sizing: The amendment abolishes sizing restrictions to the short-form warning, so long as the text remains no smaller than six-point font and is conspicuous. Currently, the regulation requires the entire warning to be in a type size no smaller than the largest type size used for other consumer information on the product.
• Inclusion of Food Products: The amendment clarifies that short-form warnings apply to food products and requires display of a separate warning website specific to food products. Businesses may now elect to use a short-form warning on food product labels if it includes the word “WARNING,” or the words “CA WARNING” or “CALIFORNIA WARNING,” identification of at least one chemical, whether the chemical is a cancer or reproductive toxin, and inclusion of the infamous yellow triangle with the exclamation point inside, along with the display of the Prop. 65 warning website.
• Vehicle/Marine Vessel Parts: The amendment adds new tailored safe harbor warnings for vehicle and recreational marine vessel parts. This amendment offers clarity for these specialized retailers where the current regulation is silent.
• Internet/Catalog Warnings: The amendment clarifies that if products are sold on the internet/in a catalog, businesses must ensure the Prop. 65 warning for sales are accessible both prior to purchase and before product exposure. The amendment also provides internet retailers with a 60 calendar day grace period upon receiving notice from manufacturers for updates to online warnings.

Takeaways

OEHHA claims the amendment will make the Prop. 65 short-form warning “more informative to consumers,” and is aligned with OEHHA’s incremental expansion of the requirements to the short-form warning. However, as a practical matter, the amendment will require companies using the new short-form warnings to reassess their product lines to identify at least one listed chemical in their consumer products sold in California to which consumers may be exposed. In some cases, this evaluation will require testing and/or discussion with other entities in the supply chain, and therefore an increased burden on consumer products companies. The upside is that companies have three years to transition to the new short-form warnings, which should allow sufficient time for compliance.

The regulation goes into effect January 1, 2025. However, it does not apply to products manufactured and labeled before January 1, 2028. Accordingly, products labelled with the existing short-form warnings before or during the three-year transition period may continue to be sold in California. The final version of the regulation can be viewed here.

We will continue to monitor all developments to the short-form warnings under Proposition 65 and publish updates as they become available.