By: Samapika Dash

With the advent of the new year, major compliance is required for the manufacturers of cleaning products sold in California. By January 1, 2020, these companies will need to disclose certain ingredient information on their websites.

The California Cleaning Product Right to Know Act of 2017 (CPRKA) requires manufacturers to disclose chemical and fragrance ingredients in cleaning products sold in California on both product labels and company websites. The regulation intends to inform California’s consumers, and manufacturing workers, of the potentially harmful ingredients that cleaning products commonly contain.

Manufacturers, including private label distributors in addition to traditional ones, must disclose ingredients on their websites by January 1, 2020. For product labels, that deadline is January 1, 2021.

Products that Must Comply with CPRKA

The CPRKA only applies to “designated product,” which could include any of the following:

• Air care products designed for masking odors, freshening, cleaning, scenting, or deodorizing the air
• Automotive products that maintain a vehicle’s appearance by washing, waxing, polishing, cleaning, or treating the exterior or interior surfaces (excluding paint and paint repair products)
• General cleansing products like soaps, detergents, or other products designed to clean or disinfect floors, furniture, countertops, showers and baths, stovetops, microwaves, and other hard surfaces
• Polish or floor maintenance products used primarily for janitorial, domestic, or institutional cleaning purposes, including polishes, waxes, or restorers designed to polish, protect, buff, condition, temporarily seal or maintain furniture, floors, metal, leather, or other surfaces

Which Ingredients must be disclosed under CPRKA?

The CPRKA identifies three types of ingredients that designated product manufacturers must disclose on product labels and websites:

1. Intentionally added ingredients
2. Non-functional ingredients
3. Fragrance ingredients

Manufacturers are not required to disclose any confidential business information as defined in the Act, which may include intentionally added or fragrance ingredients.

Disclosing Ingredients on Manufacturers' websites

Manufacturers of designated products must post the required ingredient information on their company’s website by January 1, 2020. Products manufactured prior to that date are not subject to the disclosure requirements, provided they display a date of manufacture.

Any intentionally added or fragrance ingredient that is known to the State of California to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity under Proposition 65

Certain designated products have additional compliance requirements, and must list their website on their product label as well. When a website appears on a label, the required online disclosure must be no more than:

1. Five clicks from the URL that appears on the label, or
2. Four clicks from a product-specific website

Penalties for Noncompliance with CPRKA

Designated products that fail to meet CPRKA requirements cannot be sold in the state of California.

Conclusion

Although the deadline for online disclosure is January 1, 2020, manufacturers should review their product lines and determine what they must do to meet CPRKA requirements more generally. Manufacturing companies should appoint an interdisciplinary team composed of compliance, product development, engineering, marketing, and legal representatives to develop and implement a compliance plan.

With a structured approach to adapting to CPRKA, manufacturers are off to a great start.

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