California Proposition 65 is a unique regulation that brings separate compliance requirements from all other regulations in the US (or abroad) and is enforced through civil litigation (via issuance of a Notice of Violation, or “NOV”). A single violation can cost a company upwards of $50,000 or more. At the beginning of each month, we take a quick look at an enforcement summary for the previous month to highlight the types of products being targeted, how frequently, and any new trends in enforcement action that may have appeared.
Hopefully these posts will raise a flag for any company selling these types of products into California so they can take a careful look at their products and get ahead of any potential enforcement!
Enforcement Summary for April (2026):
- Enforcement in April was consistent with March (496 vs. 501),
- Lead (and cadmium) appeared in approximately 75% of notices, with lead alone appearing in 329 notices (~66% of the total). Most of these were related to food products.
- Regardless of raw ingredient declarations/compliance, food manufacturers may need to assess high-risk finished goods with additional analysis to avoid enforcement issues.
- Hexavalent chromium in leather goods climbed to the 3rd highest tier with 20 NOV, while PFOA/PFOS sits in 4th position (also mostly related to food products).
- The remaining categories, like phthalates, DEA, BPS remain relatively consistent being found in typical types of products.
All of these NOVs can lead to costly enforcement, remediation, and reputational risk. If your products touch these categories, now is a good time to review supplier documentation, testing strategy, and warning approach.
