Cadmium Information for Businesses

Requirements for Businesses

Under the law (Health and Safety Code 25214.2) children's jewelry that contains any component or is made of any material that is more than 300 ppm cadmium by weight may not be sold or offered for sale, transported or offered for promotional purposes in California.

Certification of Jewelry

The law requires manufacturers and suppliers to provide certification that their jewelry does not contain a level of cadmium that would prohibit its sale or offering for sale (i.e., >0.03% by weight). The certification must be provided to any person who sells or offers for sale their jewelry or displayed on the shipping container or packaging of the jewelry. If the latter option is chosen, the law requires that such certification be displayed prominently.

For your convenience we have made a sample certification label (below) and sample letter. Please note that these are just examples, certification formats and contents can be changed.

Any person, manufacturer, retailer or supplier who is not in compliance with the law may be subject to fines of up to $ 2,500 per day for each violation.

Compliance

To make sure you are in compliance with the law, you can have your jewelry items tested for cadmium levels by a certified laboratory. Below you will find a list of the EPA reference Methods (as specified in EPA Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods, SW-846) required to use for testing jewelry items and a list of certified laboratories that may administer these tests:

EPA reference Methods 3050B, 3051A and 3052 (see full text of law for special procedures required for specific materials).

Link to Department of Public Health’s ELAP list of certified laboratories.
Note: Not all certified laboratories may offer these testing methods. You should verify with each laboratory before providing them with your samples.

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