California Prop 65 Compliance for Electronics Importers

California’s Prop 65 has generated more settlement payments for electronics importers than almost any other US regulation. The mechanism is unlike anything in EU compliance: the state doesn’t enforce it. Private attorneys do. And they get paid every time they win.

Officially named the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, Prop 65 is administered by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA). The law requires businesses to warn Californians before exposing them to chemicals that cause cancer or reproductive harm. The list of chemicals currently sits above 900 substances. OEHHA updates it every year.

For electronics importers, the relevant chemicals are not obscure. They’re in products you’re probably already importing.

The Chemicals That Hit Electronics Importers Hardest

Lead is the biggest one. Lead has been restricted in electronics solder under EU RoHS rules since 2006, but US law has no equivalent restriction for most product categories. Chinese factories that export to the EU use lead-free solder on EU-bound products. The same factory’s domestic or rest-of-world line often still uses leaded solder. If your supplier’s factory makes products for multiple markets, ask specifically which production line your order runs on.

Lead’s Prop 65 safe harbor level is 0.5 micrograms per day for reproductive harm and 15 micrograms per day for developmental harm. These numbers sound abstract, but the practical result is clear: if a consumer can absorb lead from your product during normal use, you need a warning label.

Cadmium shows up in battery contacts and some older component plating. Its safe harbor level is 4.1 micrograms per day (cancer endpoint). Cadmium-based finishes have largely been replaced in modern electronics, but it’s still worth testing older-design products.

DEHP and DBP phthalates appear in flexible PVC components. Cables, charging cords, and soft-touch housings often contain phthalates. DEHP’s reproductive toxicity safe harbor level is 5 micrograms per day. DBP’s is 8.7 micrograms per day.

Nickel is common in metal plating and hardware. It’s a listed substance under Prop 65 for cancer. Nickel exposure through skin contact from product surfaces has generated enforcement actions against wearable electronics and jewelry-adjacent tech products.

BPA (bisphenol A) appears in some hard plastic housings and thermal receipt paper (less relevant for electronics, but worth noting if your product has any printed materials or packaging).

Who Has to Provide Warnings

The obligation runs to anyone in the supply chain who sells into California: manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers. In practice, the retailer is often the named defendant in enforcement actions, because they’re the California-based party with deep pockets. But they can pass that liability back up the chain contractually.

If you’re an importer selling to US retailers or distributors, expect your contracts to include indemnification clauses for Prop 65 violations. Your retailer will want you to cover any Prop 65 claims that arise from products you sold them. That makes your compliance your problem regardless of where in the chain you sit.

The standard under Prop 65 is “knowing and intentional.” But courts have interpreted this broadly. Selling a product without testing it, when testing is standard practice in your industry, can satisfy the “knowing” standard. Ignorance of the chemical isn’t a reliable defense.

How Enforcement Actually Works

This is what makes Prop 65 different from every other regulation in this guide. The California Attorney General can enforce it, but almost never does. Instead, any individual or organization can file a private lawsuit under Prop 65’s citizen suit provision. They just have to give 60 days’ notice first.

That notice is called a Notice of Violation. If you import electronics and sell into California, there’s a decent chance you’ll receive one eventually. Certain law firms and “public interest” organizations systematically test consumer electronics, identify Prop 65 violations, and send notices to every company in the supply chain for that product. It’s a business model.

The 60-day notice period is supposed to allow businesses to cure the violation by adding warning labels. In practice, the plaintiff’s attorney uses that period to negotiate a settlement. They don’t want to go to trial. Neither do you.

Settlements for first-time violators typically run $10,000 to $50,000 plus the plaintiff’s attorney fees, which often exceed the penalty itself. Repeat violators or large companies pay more. If you do go to trial and lose, maximum civil penalties run $2,500 per day per violation. For a product sold to thousands of California consumers over months or years, the math gets bad fast.

What Good Compliance Looks Like

You have two options. Add the warning label, or test to confirm you don’t need one.

Testing is the better long-term approach. A Prop 65 test panel for electronics typically costs $300 to $800 per product. You send a sample to a California-certified lab (Eurofins, SGS, Bureau Veritas, Intertek all offer this). The lab runs extraction and analysis for the chemicals relevant to your product category. If everything comes back below safe harbor levels, you have documentation that you tested, and you don’t need a warning label.

If something comes back above safe harbor, you have two paths. Add a warning label, or ask your factory to reformulate. Reformulation is often cheaper in the long run, especially if you plan to sell in the EU where RoHS may also restrict the same substance.

The warning label format matters. Since 2018, Prop 65 requires a specific format for “clear and reasonable” warnings. A generic “this product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer” is no longer enough for most products. The current safe harbor warning format requires naming at least one specific chemical:

“WARNING: This product can expose you to [chemical name], which is known to the State of California to cause [cancer/birth defects/reproductive harm]. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.”

The label must be on the product itself, on the packaging, or at the point of sale. For e-commerce, it can appear on the product listing page before purchase. Digital warnings on product pages have been accepted in settlements.

When You Receive a Notice of Violation

Don’t ignore it. The 60-day clock starts from receipt, and failing to respond doesn’t make the case go away. It just means you have fewer options.

Get an attorney who handles Prop 65 specifically, not a general business litigator. The Prop 65 plaintiff bar has refined these settlements into a fairly predictable process. An experienced defense attorney can usually estimate your settlement range within the first conversation.

Gather your product testing records immediately. If you have prior testing that shows below-safe-harbor levels, that’s your strongest defense. If you have no testing records, that’s useful information too because it sets your negotiating position.

Assess how many units you’ve sold into California. Retailers’ sales data broken out by state is the key number. If your California sales are small, your exposure is capped. If you’ve sold 50,000 units into California over three years, the math on daily penalties makes settlement attractive.

After settlement, add compliant warning labels to future production and keep them. A second Prop 65 notice on the same product after you’ve settled the first one is a much worse situation.

The Interaction With RoHS

EU RoHS restricts lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB, PBDE, DEHP, DBP, BBP, and DIBP. These overlap substantially with the Prop 65 chemicals that hit electronics hardest.

If your product is certified RoHS-compliant with valid test reports, you’re in much better shape on Prop 65 for lead, cadmium, and phthalates. RoHS thresholds (0.01% by weight for cadmium, 0.1% for lead and phthalates) don’t perfectly map to Prop 65 safe harbor levels, but RoHS-compliant products rarely exceed Prop 65 thresholds in practice.

The practical takeaway: if you’re already getting RoHS testing done for EU market access, ask your lab to run a Prop 65 panel at the same time. The incremental cost is small, and you get documentation for both markets from one test session.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Prop 65 apply if I don’t have a California office or warehouse? Yes. Prop 65 applies to any business with 10 or more employees that sells products to California consumers, regardless of where the business is located. If your products reach California buyers through any channel, including Amazon or your own website, Prop 65 applies.

How do I know which chemicals to test for in my electronics product? Start with lead (in solder, plating, and pigments), phthalates (in any flexible plastic or cable), cadmium (in battery contacts or older components), and nickel (in exposed metal parts). Tell the lab your product category and ask them to recommend a standard panel for electronics. Eurofins, Intertek, and SGS all have standard Prop 65 electronics panels.

If my product has an EU RoHS certificate, am I covered for Prop 65? Not automatically, but it helps. RoHS and Prop 65 restrict some of the same chemicals at roughly comparable levels. A RoHS-compliant product is unlikely to trigger Prop 65 for lead or phthalates, but RoHS doesn’t cover all Prop 65-listed substances. Run a dedicated Prop 65 test if you’re selling significant volume into California.

What happens if I add warning labels? Does that protect me from lawsuits? A compliant warning label is your primary defense. If your label meets the current 2018 safe harbor warning format and is visible before purchase, plaintiffs have no valid Prop 65 claim. The label doesn’t mean your product is dangerous. It means you’ve disclosed the chemical exposure and let consumers decide.

Can my Chinese supplier handle Prop 65 compliance for me? No. The obligation runs to the seller to California consumers. Your Chinese factory has no California legal presence and no ability to comply on your behalf. Some factories will provide test reports that show compliance, which is helpful documentation for you, but it doesn’t transfer the legal obligation.

How do Prop 65 plaintiff firms find violations? They buy products on Amazon and from retail stores, then test them in labs. Consumer electronics, jewelry, toys, and vinyl accessories are common targets. If your product has any of the high-risk chemicals and is sold through major retail or e-commerce channels, it can be found and tested by anyone.