Breaking News: California Updates Title 27 ‘Clear and Reasonable Warnings’ Requirement on Chemical Packaging

On 6 December 2024, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) finalized amendments to the “short-form” safe harbor warnings under Proposition 65. The new rules, approved by the Office of Administrative Law on 26 November 2024, will go into effect on 1 January 2025, with a three-year transition period for businesses to comply.

Proposition 65, officially titled the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, mandates businesses with 10 or more employees to add warning labels to products that could expose individuals to chemicals identified as causing cancer, reproductive harm, or both. Despite initially being designed to accommodate small product labels, short-form warnings became widely used across various consumer products, raising concerns about their effectiveness. The finalized amendments address these concerns by requiring greater specificity in the warnings and introducing updated formatting options.