Professional engineer Anthony E. Held and Russell Brimer, a private California citizen, separately filed dozens of so-called “60-Day Notices” on February 12 alerting brands and retailers that they will bring lawsuits against them for selling backpacks, tote bags, handbags, wallets, women's footwear and children's footwear (Notice 1 and Notice 2), in California allegedly containing DEHP, a type of phthalate, in violation of California Proposition 65 (Prop 65). These notices represent a significant increase in Prop 65 cases against fashion and fashion accessories over phthalates. Phthalates are used as a plasticizer to soften plastics. These cases come on the heels of a slew of Prop 65 cases against dozens of fashion accessories brands and retailers over lead. In fact, Brimer also filed new notices February 12 against alleging that tote bags, belts, luggage tags (Notice 1 and Notice 2) and handbags (Notice 1 and Notice 2) containing lead were sold in California in violation of Prop 65. Proposition 65 is a California law that requires "warning labels" on ALL products (not just children's products) sold in California that contain lead, phthalates, cadmium and any one of 850 other chemicals that the State of California believes could cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. Prop 65 Prop 65 allows so-called "citizen enforcers" to enforce the law. NGOs, other groups and even private Californian citizens can sue in California courts and collect part of the fines.
Back to Table of Contents
Over 100 fashion accessories brands and retailers have been served "60-day" notices just since the beginning of 2009 alleging that product they have sold in California containing certain chemicals in violation of a California law know as Proposition 65 (Prop 65). (Please click here to view a full list of the Prop 65 notices to date). Proposition 65 is a California law that requires "warning labels" on ALL products (not just children's products) sold in California that contain lead, phthalates, cadmium and any one of 850 other chemicals that the State of California believes could cause cancer or reproductive toxicity. Prop 65 allows so-called "citizen enforcers" to enforce the law. NGOs, other groups and even private Californian citizens can sue in California courts and collect part of the fines. Fashion accessories allegedly containing lead were the initial focus of these Prop 65 notices, but these so called "citizen enforcers" have now turned to products allegedly containing DEHP, a type of phthalate (Please See Previous Article). While there are some common chemicals companies can work towards eliminating from their product (lead, phthalates, cadmium, chromium, etc.), Prop 65 covers over 850 chemicals, and the list grows every year. As a fashion accessories company it would be practically impossible, and prohibitively expensive, to create a testing regimen to ensure that none of your products contain any one of these 850 chemicals. So, how can you comply? You can put warning labels on your products. FASA has worked closely with Prop 65 legal experts and two counterpart associations, the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) and the Travel Goods Association (TGA), to develop a series of sample hangtags and labels that FASA members could use as the basis for labeling their products. For more information on Prop 65 warning labels and to access the samples, please go to FASA's website, http://www.accessoryweb.com. For those of you who manufacture or sell fashion accessories where the use of hangtags would be difficult, AAFA has also developed labels for shoe boxes that can be used as the basis for developing labels on your own packaging. Please note that the text provided above is for your information only and does NOT constitute legal advice. Before pursuing warning labels, FASA recommends that companies obtain the advice of their own legal counsel.
Back to Table of Contents
FASA joined eighty other business groups and companies from almost every industry sector in sending a February 17 letter to Senators expressing disappointment that proposed jobs legislation in the U.S. Senate, which the Senate approved on February 24, only included one provision related to expanding small business access to credit. The letter also notes that no provisions aimed at improving the Small Business Administration (SBA) lending programs were included in the legislation. For the past several months, a coalition of business organizations that includes FASA has been asking Congress to expand various programs to help small businesses by expanding their access to capital which, in turn, will help small businesses create jobs. Unfortunately, congressional leaders continue to ignore these important requests. The FASA-supported coalition has urged Congress to consider small businesses as it continues to work on new proposals to improve the economy.
Back to Table of Contents
California State Senator Joe Simitian (D) introduced SB 928 on February 1. If approved by the California General Assembly, the legislation would require a manufacturer or a wholesaler of fashion accessories sold in the state of California to list all substances that are present in the product in quantities larger than 0.1 percent. The law requires the list to then be placed on the manufacturer's or wholesaler's Web site. If the manufacturer or wholesaler doesn’t have a Web site, they will be required to establish one. While the legislation has only been introduced to date, many believe that there is a good chance that some form of this legislation will eventually be approved by the California General Assembly.
Back to Table of Contents
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on February 18 announced three voluntary recalls of children's upper outerwear due to drawstring violations including: 1,900 hooded sweatshirts manufactured by Baycreek, Inc, 7,200 hooded sweatshirts manufactured by New Mode Sportswear and 210,000 children's jackets manufactured by GTM Sportswear, Inc. At a recent International Consumer Product Health and Safety (ICPHSO) meeting, CPSC Director of Compliance Gib Mullen announced that the CPSC visited over 230 retail locations in January 2010 and found 16 drawstring violations. Already this year, the CPSC has reported six voluntary recalls due to drawstring violations.
Back to Table of Contents
FASA joined several other business groups in sending a letter February 25 to Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani thanking the Port of Seattle for their continued opposition to efforts to rewrite federal laws that govern the trucking industry. Last year, some ports and unions began a campaign to amend a provision codified under the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (F4A) in order to give local governments and ports the ability to regulate the trucking industry. While some ports claim this change is needed to enable them to better mitigate environmental concerns, recent studies have shown that the clean truck programs that have been in effect for more than two years have already made significant progress in minimizing pollution from older trucks in and around the ports.
Back to Table of Contents
According to a new World Bank report issued on Feb 17, governments around the world initiated 23.8 percent fewer "trade remedy" investigations against imports in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008. The last quarter in 2009 could be seen as the turning point in the global protectionism that rose in response to the 2008 global economic crisis.
Back to Table of Contents
For questions or for additional information, please contact Nate Herman, FASA’s Director of Government Relations, at 703-797-9062 or nherman@geminishippers.com.
