USA - Amendments to Article 6, Clear and Reasonable Warning Short-form Warnings

​The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) proposes to amend certain sections of Article 6 of Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations to limit the option for providing a shortened version of the Proposition 65 warning on consumer products. OEHHA adopted new Article 6 Clear and Reasonable Warnings regulations in August 2016, which became operative in August 2018. The Article 6 regulations adopted safe harbor warning methods and content for consumer product exposures that included provisions for a short-form warning.

However, there has been widespread use of short-form warnings in ways that were not intended and do not further the purposes of Proposition 65. OEHHA has also received numerous inquiries from businesses seeking clarification as to whether the short-form warning could be used to provide safe harbor warnings for food products, and for additional guidance on the safe harbor warning content for short-form food warnings. OEHHA has therefore determined that further amendments of certain sections of Article 6 are necessary:

1. ​Only allow the short-form warning to be used if the total surface area of the product label available for consumer information is 5 square inches or less and the package shape or size cannot accommodate the full-length warning.

2. Prohibit the use of short-form warning on the website and in the catalog sales.

3. Label clearly the toxicity endpoint of a chemical.

The proposed amendments are believed to make the short-form warning less appealing to businesses, further drive identification of Proposition 65-listed chemicals in the warning, and to dissuade businesses from over-warning.

Furthermore, the short-form warning is not applicable for food products and now the proposed rulemaking is going to cover it. In other words, if the proposed rulemaking is adopted, then the short-form warning is applicable for both consumer and food products.

This rulemaking includes amendments to Section 25601, Safe Harbor Clear and Reasonable Warnings – Method and Content, Section 25602, Consumer Product Exposure Warnings – Methods of Transmission, Section 25603, Consumer Product Exposure Warnings – Content, and Section 25607.1 Food Exposure Warnings – Methods of Transmission.

Any written comments concerning this proposed regulatory action, regardless of the form or method of transmission, must be received by OEHHA no later than March 8, 2021​.