Prop 65 for Importers: Warnings, Online Rules and Amazon.

Prop 65 for importers comes down to one rule: if a product you sell into California can expose people to a chemical on the state's Proposition 65 list, and your business has 10 or more employees, you must give a clear and reasonable warning first, unless you can show the exposure is below the safe harbor level. Importers and foreign manufacturers usually carry that obligation, and it applies to online sales as much as to store shelves.

This guide covers what the law requires, safe harbor Prop 65 warning formats, online and catalog rules, private enforcement, Amazon, and how warnings interact with product pages and ad copy. We are a growth firm, not a law firm. We build the listings and pages that carry these warnings and coordinate with your counsel, and we strongly recommend a California attorney who handles Prop 65 review your products and labels before launch.

What Proposition 65 Is and Who It Covers.

Proposition 65, formally the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, is a California law administered by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, or OEHHA. OEHHA maintains a list of chemicals known to the state to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. The list runs to hundreds of chemicals and is updated as new chemicals are added, so a product that needed no warning last year can need one now.

Chemicals that often turn up in imported goods include lead in brass and ceramics, phthalates such as DEHP in soft PVC, bisphenol A in some plastics, cadmium in pigments and jewelry, and acrylamide in certain cooked foods. Prop 65 bans none of them. It is a right-to-know law that requires a warning, though many brands reformulate to avoid one.

The 10-employee threshold counts all employees of the business, not only those in California, so a foreign manufacturer with a team abroad is covered. OEHHA publishes safe harbor exposure levels for many chemicals, and the burden of proof sits with the business: if you do not warn, you need data showing exposure falls below the level.

The 2018 regulations put primary responsibility for product warnings on manufacturers, importers, suppliers and distributors, the businesses upstream of the retailer. They can meet it by labeling the product, or by giving the retailer written notice and warning materials and getting the receipt confirmed. For a foreign brand, that means the contract with your US distributor or importer of record should say who decides on warnings, who pays for testing and who defends a notice. If you import directly or sell as the brand owner on a marketplace, assume the obligation is yours, and let your attorney draft the allocation.

Safe Harbor Warning Formats.

A warning that follows the safe harbor methods and content in OEHHA's regulations is deemed clear and reasonable. You can write your own, but then you must prove it works, so nearly everyone uses the safe harbor text.

• Full-length warning: the yellow triangle symbol, the word WARNING in bold, a statement that the product can expose you to a named chemical known to California to cause cancer or reproductive harm, and the P65Warnings.ca.gov website.
• Short-form warning: a shorter label version. At the time of writing, OEHHA amendments adopted in late 2024 require it to name at least one listed chemical, with a phase-in running to January 1, 2028.
• Tailored warnings: food, furniture, alcoholic beverages, vehicles and other categories have their own required wording.
• Languages: if the label carries consumer information in another language, the warning generally must appear in it too.

The amendments also set transition rules for products labeled before the compliance date. Confirm current text with your attorney rather than copying a competitor's box.

Online and Catalog Warning Rules.

Internet and catalog sales have their own warning method, on top of the product label. For internet purchases, the warning must be given before the purchase is complete, through one of three routes: on the product display page, through a clearly marked hyperlink using the word WARNING on the product display page, or otherwise prominently displayed to the buyer before checkout is finished. A warning that only appears in the box after delivery does not meet the online requirement.

In printed catalogs, the warning must be clearly associated with the specific item, typically beside the product or its price.

Two design decisions follow. Placement: near the price or the add to cart button is the safer reading of prominently displayed, and a footer link is not. Geography: some stores show warnings only to California visitors, but IP location and shipping address differ and marketplace feeds rarely support it, so many brands warn nationwide. That call belongs to counsel and the brand owner together.

Step by Step: Getting a Product Line Prop 65 Ready.

Private Enforcement, 60-Day Notices and Settlements.

The Attorney General, district attorneys and certain city attorneys can enforce Prop 65, but most actions come from private enforcers. Before a private party can sue, it must send a 60-day notice of violation to the business and to public enforcers, with a certificate of merit stating that the claim has been reviewed. If no public enforcer takes the case within the 60 days, the private party can file.

Civil penalties can reach $2,500 per violation per day, and private enforcers can recover attorney fees. Most matters settle, typically with a civil penalty, a fee payment and a commitment to warn or reformulate. Private settlements are reported to the Attorney General, which publishes them.

Notice senders buy products online, test them and check the page and the label, so every listing is a public test sample. If a notice arrives, send it to your attorney the same day before changing anything.

How Amazon and Other Marketplaces Handle Prop 65.

At the time of writing, Amazon's policy puts responsibility on the seller to determine whether a Prop 65 warning is required and to provide it. Listings include a California Proposition 65 attribute where the seller supplies the warning type and chemical information, and Amazon displays the warning on the product detail page for customers. Missing warnings risk listing removal, and seller agreements generally require the seller to indemnify the marketplace.

Walmart Marketplace and large retailers have their own compliance fields and vendor onboarding checks, so read each current policy. In our own Amazon Professional Seller accounts, the part that goes wrong is rarely the policy; it is variation listings, bundles and new SKUs added later without the attribute filled in.

How Warnings Interact With Product Pages and Ad Copy.

The safe harbor rules focus on labels, product pages and the point of purchase, and ordinary display or search ads generally do not have to carry the warning themselves. The interaction that causes trouble is copy, not placement. An ad or page that promises non-toxic, chemical-free, BPA-free or safe for kids while the product carries a Prop 65 warning for a related chemical gives a notice sender a story and can raise separate false advertising issues under federal and state consumer protection law. Claims should be checked against the warning decision before any campaign launches.

A visible warning can affect conversion. The answer is not to hide it but to explain it plainly in product content, where counsel agrees the explanation is accurate. Our US marketing compliance page covers how this fits with the FTC's rules on claims and reviews.

What Usually Goes Wrong.

• The brand relies on a supplier's letter that a material is Prop 65 compliant, with no test data and no idea which chemical was checked.
• Packaging carries a warning, but the Shopify product page and marketplace listing do not, so the online requirement is missed.
• The warning uses an outdated short form or omits the chemical name after the rules changed.
• A distributor imports the product and assumes the brand handled warnings, while the brand assumed the distributor did.
• Ad copy and product titles use non-toxic or chemical-free on a product that carries a warning.
• A 60-day notice sits in a general inbox for weeks before anyone sends it to counsel.

Where the Legal Decision Stops and the Launch Work Begins.

Your attorney decides whether a product needs a warning and what it says. Everything after that decision is execution across channels: artwork files, Shopify or other storefront templates that place the warning near the price and checkout, marketplace listing attributes on every variation, catalog and wholesale sheets, and ad and product copy that does not contradict the warning. It also means a record of which SKU carries which warning, so a new product or a new supplier triggers a review instead of slipping through. That coordination across counsel, packaging, storefront and marketplace is work Theory Road does through our e-commerce and Amazon service.