US California Proposition 65 Warning
PROPOSITION 65 CALIFORNIA WARNING LABEL
NOW ON CHRISTMAS PRODUCTS AND GIFTWARE
Any company selling its products into the state of California, USA must comply with its legislation “Proposition 65, The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act 1986”.
Christmas Elves Group has been familiar with Prop. 65 since 2010 through our retailing of ceramics with Portmeirion Group, Department 56 & RAZ Christmas and now our giftware suppliers are effected.
Prop. 65 is constantly reviewed and upgraded. Last year several hundred chemicals were added to the list that require the warning below:
Apparently, most American gift companies are simply applying the warning by swing tag or incorporation into barcode labels to all products irrespective of whether or not Prop. 65 actually applies. The alternatives of labelling only for California Vs rest of the world or product testing at massive and disproportionate cost have been rejected.
Whilst the warning itself is confronting, our experience indicates that most customers ignore it. There is no obligation on any person or business outside California to observe Prop. 65 labelling/warning requirements. Accordingly you can simply pull the warning tags off the products or over sticker them.
Christmas Elves group supports consumer protection at every level, but notes that Prop. 65 is considered by many stakeholders to be extreme, applying only to California and not the rest of the planet. We also note that California is the largest economy of all states in America and is the 5th biggest economy in the world and thus massively able to enforce all manner of standards, however extreme or unreasonable.
We recognise that this Prop. 65 labelling may represent an inconvenience but reiterate the suppliers seem to be putting the warning on “everything”. Accordingly, we must all deal with this as we each see fit to do so.
If you have any questions please contact the Christmas Elves team.
