G/TBT/N/USA/1691  
13 January 2021  
(21-0427) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original:  English  
 
  
NOTIFICATION  
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6  
 
1. Notifying Member:  UNITED STATES OF AMERICA   
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):  State of 
California  
2. Agency responsible:  Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), State 
of California [1720]  
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers , email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above:   
Please submit comments to: USA WTO TBT Enquiry Point, Email: usatbtep@nist.gov  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [   ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other : Technical 
Regulation - Local Government (Article 3.2)  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN  where applicable, otherwise national tariff 
heading. ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):  Consumer 
product exposure warnings; Domestic safety (ICS 13.120), Food products in general 
(ICS 67.040), Prepackaged and prepared foods (ICS 6 7.230)  
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Amendments to 
Article 6, Clear and Reasonable Warnings Short -form Warnings (6 page(s), in English)  
6. Description of content:  Notice of proposed rulemaking - Proposes to amend cer tain 
sections of Article 6 of Title 27 of the California Code of Regulations.   OEHHA adopted new 
Article 6 Clear and Reasonable Warnings regulations in August 2016, which became 
operative in August 2018. The Article 6 regulations adopted safe harbor warnin g methods 
and content for consumer product exposures that included provisions for a short -form 
warning. However, there has been widespread use of short -form warnings in ways that 
were not intended and do not further the purposes of Proposition 65.  
7. Obje ctive and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where 
applicable:  Consumer information, labelling; Prevention of deceptive practices and 
consumer protection  
8. Relevant documents:   
• No. 2 -Z, California Regulatory Notice Register 8 January 2021 (pages 28 to 
31): https://oal.ca.gov/wp -content/uploads/sites/166/2021/01/2021 -Notice -
Register -Number -2-Z-Janaury -8-2021.pdf   
• Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Amendments to Article 6, Clear and Reasonable 
Warnings Short -form Warnings: https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition -
65/crnr/notice -proposed -rulemaking -amendments -article -6-clear-and-
reasonable -warnings -0 G/TBT/N/USA/1691  
 
- 2 - 
 
  • Initial Statement of Reason  
• Proposed Amendments to Regulatory Text Related to Short -Form Warnings  
• G/TBT/N/USA/1586 and G/TBT/N/U SA/1586 /Add.1  – State of California Office of 
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), Consumer Product Exposure 
Warnings  
Any written comments concerning this proposed regulatory action, regardless of the form 
or method of transmission, must be received by  California's OEHHA no later than 8 March 
2021. WTO Members and their stakeholders are asked to  submit comments to the  USA 
TBT Enquiry Point  by or before 4pm EST on 8 March 2021. Comments  received within  the 
comment period by the USA TBT Enquiry Point from WTO Members and their stakeholders 
will be shared with the regulator and will also be submitted 
to https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition -65/comments/comment -submissions -notice -
proposed -rulemaking -amendments -article -6-clear per OEHHA's instructions.   Public 
comments submitted on this action will be accessible at https://oehha.ca.gov/comments . 
9. Proposed date of adoption:  To be determined  
Proposed date of entry into force:  To be determined  
10. Final date for comments:  8 March 2021  
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [ ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available , of other body:   
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/USA/21_0388_00_e.pdf  
https://members.wto .org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/USA/21_0388_01_e.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/USA/21_0388_02_e.pdf  
https://members.wto.org/crnattachments/2021/TBT/USA/21_0388_03_e.pdf