California Proposition 65
The California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, commonly referred to as “Proposition 65” or “Prop 65”, is a right-to-know law that is unique to the State of California. The goal of Prop 65 is to ensure that individuals in the State of California are informed about possible exposure to chemicals “known to the State of California to cause cancer and/or reproductive toxicity.” Under the law, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (“OEHHA”) is tasked with maintaining a list of chemicals and updating the list at least annually. To date, there are over 900 chemicals listed by OEHHA, which list can be found at https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list.
Historically, only manufacturers of end products had an obligation to notify Californians about significant amounts of chemicals in the products they purchase for their homes or workplaces. In late 2016, OEHHA adopted new regulations that went into effect on August 30, 2018. Proposition 65 now applies to suppliers of components used in end products to ensure that information about chemicals used in the components is communicated to Californians who might come into contact with the chemicals during the development, manufacture, or use of the end products.
To comply with Prop 65, businesses (including manufacturers, distributors, and retail sellers) must provide a “clear and reasonable” warning for listed chemicals unless exposure is low enough to pose “no significant risk” of cancer or is significantly below levels observed to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. A Prop 65 warning does not necessarily mean a product is in violation of any product-safety standards or requirements.
When one of these chemicals is present, Wolfspeed is required to disclose certain information to its customers and distributors, who in turn are required to disclose appropriate information to their customers. We have created this website to help Wolfspeed's customers and distributors identify impacted Wolfspeed products and the applicable downstream disclosures. Wolfspeed products in the component product families listed in the table below contain one or more of the chemicals identified in Prop 65. Please refer to the product data sheet for each Wolfspeed product in the impacted Wolfspeed product families for more details on the disclosures applicable to that product.
[1] Wolfspeed’s semiconductor die products (excluding packaging) do not contain any chemicals that must be disclosed under California Proposition 65. However, the Wolfspeed semiconductor die products are packaged using a PVC die transfer film that contains DINP. An occupational warning must be provided to any customer that buys the Wolfspeed die for use in product development or manufacturing in the State of California. The customer in turn must prominently display a similar occupational warning at its California locations where employees and contractors will be handling the PVC die transfer film. Because the Wolfspeed die products themselves do not contain any chemicals that must be disclosed under California Proposition 65, incorporation of the die into another product will not create an obligation to include a Proposition 65 product warning on the higher-level product. However, the customer must ensure that the PVC die transfer film is properly handled and disposed of as a hazardous material after die removal.
[2] These Wolfspeed products contain Lead (Pb). The Lead is fully encapsulated in components used in the Wolfspeed products. So, unless the Lead is accidentally or intentionally exposed, there is no chance that an employee, customer, or other individual will come into contact with the Lead in Wolfspeed’s products. Nonetheless, Proposition 65 requires Wolfspeed to provide its California customers and distributors with both an occupational warning and a product warning for individuals who potentially could be exposed to the Lead in the Wolfspeed products either accidentally or intentionally. An occupational warning must be provided to any customer that buys the impacted Wolfspeed products for use in product development or manufacturing in the State of California. The customer in turn must prominently display a similar occupational warning at its California locations where employees and contractors will be handling the Wolfspeed products that contain Lead. In addition, because the Wolfspeed products contain Lead, incorporation into another product will create an obligation to include a Proposition 65 product warning on the higher-level product. Please note, the amount of Lead used in each Wolfspeed product remains below the ≤ 0.1% acceptance level in EU RoHS. In addition, these products continue to comply in accordance with EU RoHS exemptions 7A and 7C-1 for the bill of materials.
For more Information:
Prop 65 Link: https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65
Prop 65 Substance list: https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list