On October 15, 2017, California enacted SB 258 – the Cleaning Product Right to Know Act of 2017 (Cal. Health and Safety Code Sections 108950 et seq.) – that requires product label and on-line disclosure requirements or bans sale of cleaning products and creates a new crime for  employers who fail to make such disclosures to their employees.

The new labeling and disclosure requirements apply to air care, automotive, polish or floor maintenance and other general cleaning products (e.g., soaps, detergents, fabric care).  It does not include certain cleaning products used in industrial and manufacturing processes (e.g., refineries, food processing, water treatment facilities).

By January 1, 2020, each manufacturer is required to have the requisite disclosures on their website.  See Cal. Health and Safety Code, Section 108954.5.   The disclosures include all intentionally added chemicals and all nonfunctional constituents at concentration above 100 ppm, the CAS number and other chemical nomenclatures, the functional purpose of each ingredient, and a link to SDS sheet.  The link to the required disclosure information must be no more than 5 clicks from URL on product label, and no more than 4 clicks from product-specific URL website.

By January 1, 2021, each manufacturer is required to list on the product label all intentionally added chemicals on the designated lists, list the fragrance allergens if concentration above 100 ppm, and provide a  toll-free number and web address for more customers to get more information.  See Cal. Health and Safety Code, Section 108954.

The disclosures are required for nearly all chemicals on any regulatory list (e.g., Prop 65, EU Reach, MCLs, etc.).  Since the designated regulatory lists are constantly being updated and revised, a product manufacturer will need to be vigilantly monitoring them since the law requires that the online disclosures be updated within 6 months and product labels be updated within 18 months of a change to any designated list and failure to do so results in a ban on the sale of the product in the State of California, as well as a potential feeding frenzy by California plaintiff’s attorneys.

SB 258 also creates a new crime under the Hazardous Substances Information and Training Act for employers who fail to ensure that the chemical disclosures, particularly the Safety Data Sheets, are given to its employees.  See California Labor Code 6398.5.

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