SGS Gives Overview of Recent California Prop 65 Settlement Agreements for Consumer Goods

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / AGILITYPR.NEWS / January 26, 2023 / SGS, the world’s leading testing, inspection and certification company, has published a SafeGuardS looking at a wide variety of settlement agreements reached in California relating to consumer products containing chemicals listed under Proposition 65 (Prop 65).

SafeGuardS 007.23 was published on January 17, 2023. It contains information relating to settlement agreements involving consumer products containing the following chemicals:

• One or more phthalates
• Lead
• Chromium (VI) compounds, N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol S (BPS), bisphenol F (BPF), bisphenol AF (BPAF), bisphenol Z (BPZ), bisphenol AP (BPAP) and bisphenol B (BPB)

Products covered by the settlement agreements include everything from boat hooks, fitness bags and travel bottles to leather gloves, phone cases and pencil cups.

Prop 65, or the ‘Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986’, is a unique piece of legislation that requires the state to maintain a list of chemicals (Prop 65 List) known to cause cancer, birth defects and/or reproductive harm. Unless exempted, businesses operating in California must provide ‘a clear and reasonable warning’ (Prop 65 Warning) before knowingly and intentionally exposing anyone to a substance on the Prop 65 List. Once a substance is included in the list, companies have twelve months to comply with this requirement.

Stakeholders operating in the phone case market should note the settlement for BPA also allows the not detectable amount of BPA and six BPA-analogs that are not currently on the Prop 65 list of chemicals.

Additionally, the parties named in two settlements involving chromium (VI) compounds in leather footwear and gloves have agreed to reformulate their products to no more than 0.1% total chromium in the tanned leather of these products using ISO 17072-2 ‘Leather – Chemical determination of metal content – Part 2: Total metal content’.

Stakeholders are advised to review SGS’s original SafeGuardS 007.23 to learn more about recent Prop 65 settlement agreements covering consumer goods.

It should be noted, settlement agreements are only legally binding on named parties, but they do provide an indication of how manufacturers and suppliers should progress when operating in California.

SGS Prop 65 Services

With a global network of laboratories, SGS can offer comprehensive testing, product assessment and consultancy services related to California Proposition 65. SGS can assist your risk management strategy in consumer goods, such as DIYs, electrical and electronics, hardgoods products, juvenile products, and textile & toy products. In the end, it’s only trusted because it’s tested. Learn more about SGS’s Prop 65 Services.

SGS SafeGuardS keep you up to date with the latest news and developments in the consumer goods industry. Read the full California Proposition 65: Reformulation of Chemicals in Consumer Goods SafeGuardS.

Subscribe here to receive SGS SafeGuardS direct to your inbox.

For further information contact:

Dr. HingWo Tsang

Global Information and Innovation Manager

Tel: (+852) 2774 7420

Ms. Melanie Schubert

Senior Technical Manager

Tel: +1 312 414 9394

Email: cp.media@sgs.com

Website: www.sgs.com/cp

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