California's Proposition 65 requires businesses to give a clear and reasonable warning before exposing people in California to chemicals on the state's list, which includes lead and cadmium. For jewellery, that means either making pieces with low enough levels of these chemicals or putting a Prop 65 warning on the product, the packaging or the online listing.
California also has specific laws limiting lead in jewellery, separate from Prop 65. Ask your test lab for the current limits that apply to your products.
Who it affects
Prop 65 applies to businesses with ten or more employees that sell into California, but in practice the whole supply chain feels it. Large retailers and marketplaces often require their suppliers to comply or to provide warnings, whatever the supplier's size. If you sell online to US customers, some of them are in California.
How enforcement works
Prop 65 is enforced by the state and also by private enforcers, who buy products, test them and send a 60-day notice of violation. Cases often end in settlements with payments and agreed limits for future products. Fashion jewellery has been a frequent target, mainly for lead and cadmium.
Your two options
- Reformulate: use lead-free brass, cadmium-free solder and lead-free stones and coatings, and keep test reports to show levels are low.
- Warn: use the official warning wording on the product, packaging or listing, and keep it consistent across every channel.
Why reformulating is usually better
A warning label on a gift-priced necklace can put customers off, and retailers often refuse products that need one. Meeting the EU lead and cadmium limits and the US children's limits usually takes you most of the way to low exposure as well. See the EU lead limit for jewellery for where lead hides.
What this means for a buyer
If you sell in the US, decide on reformulation or warnings before you order, and test production pieces. Creston & Co works for buyers only, for a fixed fee agreed in writing: we check materials at the workshop, have samples tested at NABL-accredited labs and supervise packing. Start with a free sourcing review.