Prop 65 – What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You

June 25, 2018
An Aug 30, 2018 enforcement deadline looms for California's Proposition 65, originally passed as a ballot initiative to protect the state's drinking water. An urgent dash towards awareness and compliance is underway.

Proposition 65 was originally passed by the citizens of California in 1986 as a ballot initiative to protect the state's drinking water sources from being contaminated with chemicals known to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. The proposition requires businesses to inform Californians about exposures to such chemicals.

In 2016, the state updated the regulation to reflect the realities of the Internet age and to strengthen the labeling requirements. Far too little attention has been paid to this revised regulation. And, with the Aug 30, 2018 enforcement deadline looming, an urgent dash towards awareness and compliance is underway.

This column is not intended to issue legal advice or to interpret the Prop 65 regulation in any way. Frankly, a simple web search for the term “Proposition 65” will return ample results to bring anyone up to speed. The most direct place to go for information and to read the regulation is the web site of the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA): https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65

There are two ways to look at the Prop 65 matter if you manufacture, distribute, retail, install or consume affected product in California (and that covers just about everybody). One is legal compliance. The heart of the regulation is a warning label (a triangle and exclamation mark) and the associated text that includes the specific chemical (s) that triggered the warning. It’s important to note that the maker of the product bears full responsibility to identify if their product is subject to the regulation and to distribute the warning label and text to everyone in their distribution chain. It is the responsibility of the distributors and retailers to faithfully display the warning label and text – without alteration – wherever anyone may come in contact with the product.

Distribution of the warning label as a digital asset and the associated text is a technical challenge that seems to only recently be getting any attention. The auto care industry has widely adopted a format and best practice for the exchange of rich product information called PIES – the Product Information Exchange Standard. Somehow, we got to the spring of 2018 without the phrase “Proposition 65” ever being spoken in a meeting of the Technology Standards Committee. With millions of dollars in fines being assessed on those who were unaware or unconcerned with the rules for compliance, Prop 65 data elements seem worthy of inclusion in the product data standard. 

Prop 65 warnings are required on product packaging, on web sites and catalogs. Some of these requirements are recently new and have sent electronic catalog providers and retailers with operations in California scrambling to comply with the regulation and avoid becoming the next target of Prop 65 Bounty Hunters.

Fortunately, the Auto Care Technology Standards Committee was able to fast-track a Prop 65 addition to the PIES specification at their Spring Leadership meeting. A specific designation for a Regulatory Label image (digital asset) was added to version 7.0 of the standard and a best practice recommendation has been approved for communicating the text that accompanies the image. The text is to be communicated as an Attribute of the product using a “Mutually Agreed Upon” product attribute designation. In trying to anticipate regulatory data requirements in 50 States and an unlimited number of local jurisdictions, the committee wisely chose not to add a “Prop 65” field. Instead they chose to designate a field for a Regulatory Image and prescribed a standard methods to exchange Regulatory Text. Like so many other elements in PIES, these regulatory values can be repeated or looped as many times as are required to conduct business.

While Prop 65 does allow for a sell-through period for products in the distribution chain, the August 30 enforcement date is fast approaching and the need to acquire and distribute the appropriate labels and text is urgent. Computer systems and web content need to be updated and trading partners need to ensure alignment on the warning and text. Of course, you should consult with legal council on this matter. You should also refer to the Best Practice documentation for Delivering Regulatory Content in PIES. The association acted promptly and responsibly once this urgent requirement was identified. Now it is time for everyone in the supply chain to adopt a single best practice procedure to avoid the cost of Prop 65 compliance rising any higher than it already has to. The Best Practice can be found at the Auto Care web site or you can click here - http://www.gcommerceinc.com/customer-resources/prop65/

Subscribe to Aftermarket Business World and receive articles like this every month….absolutely free. Click here.

About the Author

Scott Luckett | Chief Information Officer, AAIA

Scott Luckett is vice president, industry strategy for GCommerce, Inc. where he has responsibility for industry partnerships and major account development. Previously, Luckett rose through several positions at the Auto Care Association over 17 years and as CIO had responsibility for the Technology Standards Committee, the Telematics Task Force and the National Catalog Managers Association (NCMA). Before Auto Care, Luckett was an executive at a local automotive WD and prior to that was a top sales producer for Triad Systems (now Epicor). Luckett is a recipient of the Northwood University Automotive Aftermarket Management Education Awards and the Northwood Founders Service Award for his contributions to training and education in the Auto Care Industry.

About GCommerce
GCommerce connects over 1,200 suppliers with 600 retailers and wholesalers, exchanging in excess of 2 million transactions monthly. The GCommerce Virtual Inventory Cloud (VIC) is a powerful supply chain visibility solution to support drop ship and special orders. PBEPRO is a repository of rich, PIES-compliant product content for non-application product categories. GCommerce also offers an online web commerce platform, AutosoEZ, and a robust order fulfillment and shipping management application called Fulfillment Master. GCommerce is Driving Digital Commerce. Contact GCommerce at (515) 288-5850 or write to [email protected] to learn more.

Sponsored Recommendations

Learn how electronic parking brake actuators have replaced manual systems and now play a key role in advanced safety features like automatic emergency braking. This WIYB Training...
Not all fuel injectors are created equal. In this WIYB Training Series, we compare Standard® Fuel Injectors against OE, low-cost imports. See why precision engineering and rigorous...
Carrying active OEM subscriptions for all manufacturers is not possible for many shops. However, access to this software is required for certain modern vehicles and repairs, and...
Learn how to properly lubricate your AIRCAT air tools to keep them running at peak performance. Discover essential daily maintenance and storage techniques, along with the right...

Voice Your Opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Vehicle Service Pros, create an account today!