Program Overview

The Safer Consumer Products (SCP) Regulations establish a science-based process to identify specific products that contain potentially harmful chemicals and to evaluate potential safer alternatives. View the SCP Regulations. 

Our goals at the SCP Program are to:

• Reduce hazardous chemicals in consumer products
• Increase the adoption of green chemistry principles and safer alternatives to chemicals of concern in consumer products

To implement the SCP Regulations, we:

Maintain an informational list of Candidate Chemicals with properties of concern.

Publish a Priority Product Work Plan every three years, which defines the product categories that we plan to evaluate during that period.

Identify Priority Products, which are specific product-chemical combinations that can expose people or the environment to one or more Candidate Chemicals, thus causing or contributing to significant or widespread adverse impacts. We list Priority Products in the California Code of Regulations through a formal rulemaking process.

Require manufacturers of Priority Products sold in California to notify us within 60 days a Priority Product listing, and conduct a comprehensive Alternatives Analysis to answer key questions such as: Is this Chemical of Concern necessary in the product? Is there a safer alternative? Instead of conducting the Alternatives Analysis, manufacturers could also opt to remove the product from the California market, or remove or substitute the Chemical of Concern.

Issue a Regulatory Response informed by the Alternatives Analysis to reduce or eliminate the adverse impacts associated with the Priority Product. We give preference to those regulatory responses that provide the greatest level of protection to public health and the environment.

Conduct product testing to ensure compliance with our regulations and undertake enforcement actions as needed.

Maintain an information system called CalSAFER, which allows our stakeholders to submit public comments and documentation required to comply with the SCP Regulations.

In addition to our core tasks under the SCP Regulations, we also work to limit copper in vehicle brake pads and have issued guidelines to make nail salons healthier for nail care workers, owners, and customers.

The four main elements of the process defined by the SCP regulations: