New Prop 65 Claims Target Receipt Paper

Retail businesses in California are facing a new trend in consumer protection lawsuits and threats. Since 2023, California has classified certain chemicals in thermal receipt paper as hazardous and subject to Proposition 65 warnings. These chemicals are known as bisphenol S and bisphenol A, or BPS and BPA. They are common ingredients in thermal paper, and exposure to them is alleged to cause reproductive harm.

Starting in December 2024, any person who wants to bring a lawsuit against a business that is exposing the public (or its own employees) to BPS or BPA without warning them is required to provide a written warning and 60 days' notice. That notice period allows the retailer who receives the warning letter to settle the claim before a lawsuit is filed. According to some reports, these claims are often settled for about $20,000.

We are seeing these claims, which are largely being brought by a single law firm in San Diego, reaching Bay Area businesses.

To protect your business against this type of claim, we recommend checking the type of receipt paper that you currently use. If the box or packaging says it is BPS and BPA free, you are using compliant paper. If you receive a warning letter, you would want to provide evidence that you were using this compliant paper at the time of the alleged claim.

If you are not using BPS and BPA free receipt paper, then if possible we recommend that you discard your current receipt paper and replace it with BPS and BPA free receipt paper, starting immediately. Many businesses are finding BPS/BPA-free receipt paper hard to source or reporting that it costs substantially more than their regular paper. If you cannot implement compliant receipt paper, you could add a warning sign within your business. That warning side could read:

WARNING: Thermal receipt paper can expose you to chemicals including Bisphenol S (BPS) and Bisphenol A (BPA) which are known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.

This warning should be posted at the register or receipt printer close to where a customer would receive the receipt. If you have multiple checkout points, it should be posted at each one. It must be in a conspicuous location where it is likely to be seen, read, and understood by an ordinary person. You should make the sign as visible as possible to avoid any claim that the sign was not noticeable. Additional tips include making the type face at least 20 point font, putting the warning inside an outline, and translating the warning into other languages if those other languages are regularly used in your business. The yellow triangle symbol with a black exclamation point should be included as shown and made at least as tall as the all-caps word WARNING in your signage.

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