ARTICLE 4. Duties [6390. - 6399.2.]

Cal. Labor Code - LAB 4.

in effect

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6390. Section 6390.

The manufacturer of any hazardous substance listed pursuant to the provisions of Section 6380 shall prepare and provide its direct purchasers of the hazardous substance with an MSDS containing the information specified in Section 6391 which, to the best of the manufacturer’s knowledge, is current, accurate, and complete, based on information then reasonably available to the manufacturer. For purposes of this section, a substance, mixture, or product shall not be considered a hazardous substance if present in a physical state, volume, or concentration for which there is no valid and substantial evidence that any adverse acute or chronic risk to human health may occur from exposure. The manufacturer shall revise an MSDS on a timely basis as appropriate to the importance of any new information which would affect the contents of the existing MSDS, and in any event within one year of such information becoming available to the manufacturer. If the new information indicates significantly increased risks to, or measures necessary to protect, employee health, as compared to those stated on the MSDS previously provided, the manufacturer shall provide such new information to persons who have purchased the product directly from the manufacturer within the last year.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6390.2. Section 6390.2.

(a) An entity that manufactures or imports a hazardous substance or mixture of substances that constitutes a cosmetic, as defined in Section 109900 of the Health and Safety Code, not excluded by Section 6385, or any substance or mixture of substances that constitutes a disinfectant, as defined in Section 977 of Article 12 of Division 9 of Title 16 of the California Code of Regulations, that is required to develop or obtain an SDS in accordance with this chapter and Section 5194 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, shall post and maintain the SDS in accordance with Section 6390 on the entity’s internet website by its brand name or other commonly known name in a manner generally accessible to the public. If a separate SDS based on color or tint exists, the entity shall post and translate each SDS. The entity shall translate the SDS into Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Korean, and other languages that the director may determine to be common for the beauty care industry. These translations shall also be publicly available on the entity’s internet website. (b) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2020.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6390.5. Section 6390.5.

The manufacturer, importer, and distributor of any hazardous substance, and the employer, shall label each container of a hazardous substance in a manner consistent with the federal Hazard Communication Standard (29 C.F.R. Sec. 1910.1200) and as set forth in applicable occupational safety and health standards adopted by the standards board.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6391. Section 6391.

The information which manufacturers shall provide to their purchasers pursuant to the provisions of Section 6390 shall include the following, if pertinent: (a) The chemical name, any common names, and the CAS number of the hazardous substance. (b) The hazards or other risks in the use of the hazardous substance, including all of the following: (1) The potential for fire, explosion, and reactivity. (2) The acute and chronic health effects or risks from exposure. (3) The potential routes of exposure and symptoms of overexposure. (c) The hazards or other risks of exposure to the combustion products of the hazardous substance. (d) The proper precautions, handling practices, necessary personal protective equipment, and other safety precautions in the use of or exposure to the hazardous substance, and its combustion products. (e) The emergency procedures for spills, fire, disposal, and first aid. (f) A description in lay terms, if not otherwise provided, on either a separate sheet or with the body of the information specified in this section, of the specific potential health risks posed by the hazardous substance and its combustion products intended to alert any person reading the information. (g) The month and year that the information was compiled and, for an MSDS issued after January 1, 1981, the name and address of the manufacturer responsible for preparing the information.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6392. Section 6392.

Provision of a federal Material Safety Data Sheet or equivalent shall constitute prima facie proof of compliance with Section 6390.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6393. Section 6393.

The manufacturer shall be relieved of the obligation to provide a specific purchaser of a hazardous substance with an MSDS pursuant to Section 6390 if the manufacturer has a record of having provided the specific purchaser with the most current version of the MSDS, or if the product is one sold at retail and is incidentally sold to an employer or the employer’s employees, in the same form, approximate amount, concentration, and manner as it is sold to consumers, and, to the seller’s knowledge, employee exposure to the product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure occurring during the principal consumer use of the product. Except for products so labeled, this section does not relieve the manufacturer of the requirement to provide direct purchasers with new, revised, or later information or an MSDS pursuant to Section 6390.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6394. Section 6394.

The preparer of an MSDS shall provide the department with a copy of the MSDS on each hazardous substance it manufactures. The preparer may transmit the MSDS to the department in either paper or electronic form. In the electronic filing of an MSDS, it is the responsibility of the preparer to protect any trade secret information contained in the MSDS during transmission to the department. Upon receipt by the department of the MSDS, it is the responsibility of the department to protect any trade secret information.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6395. Section 6395.

(a) The manufacturer may provide the information required by Section 6390 on an entire product mixture, instead of on each hazardous substance in it, when all of the following conditions exist: (1) Hazard test information exists on the mixture itself, or adequate information exists to form a valid judgment of the hazardous properties of the mixture itself and the MSDS indicates that the information presented and the conclusions drawn are from some source other than direct test data on the mixture itself, and that an MSDS on each constituent hazardous substance identified on the MSDS is available upon request. (2) Provision of information on the mixture will be as effective in protecting employee health as information on the ingredients. (3) The hazardous substances in the mixture are identified on the MSDS unless it is either unfeasible to describe all the ingredients in the mixture or the identity of the ingredients is itself a valid trade secret, in either case the reason why the hazardous substances in the mixture are not identified shall be stated on the MSDS. (b) A single mixture MSDS may be provided for more than one formulation of a product mixture if the information provided pursuant to Section 6390 does not vary for the formulation.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6396. Section 6396.

(a) The Director of Industrial Relations shall protect from disclosure any and all trade secrets coming into the director’s possession, as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 7924.510 of the Government Code, when requested in writing or by appropriate stamping or marking of documents by the manufacturer or producer of a mixture. (b) Any information reported to or otherwise obtained by the Director of Industrial Relations, or any of the director’s representatives or employees, which is exempt from disclosure under subdivision (a), shall not be disclosed to anyone except an officer or employee of the state or of the United States of America, in connection with the official duties of that officer or employee under any law for the protection of health, or to contractors with the state and their employees if in the opinion of the director the disclosure is necessary and required for the satisfactory performance of a contract for performance of work in connection with this act. (c) Any officer or employee of the state, or former officer or employee, who by virtue of that employment or official position has obtained possession of or has access to material the disclosure of which is prohibited by this section, and who, knowing that disclosure of the material is prohibited, knowingly and willfully discloses the material in any manner to any person not entitled to receive it, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Any contractor with the state and any employee of that contractor, who has been furnished information as authorized by this section, shall be considered to be an employee of the state for purposes of this section. (d) Information certified to by appropriate officials of the United States, as necessarily kept secret for national defense purposes, shall be accorded the full protections against disclosure as specified by that official or in accordance with the laws of the United States. (e) (1) The director, upon the director’s own initiative, or upon receipt of a request pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000) of Title 1 of the Government Code), for the release of data submitted and designated as a trade secret by an employer, manufacturer, or producer of a mixture, shall determine whether any or all of the data so submitted are a properly designated trade secret. (2) If the director determines that the data is not a trade secret, the director shall notify the employer, manufacturer, or producer of a mixture by certified mail. (3) The employer, manufacturer, or producer of a mixture shall have 15 days after receipt of notification to provide the director with a complete justification and statement of the grounds on which the trade secret privilege is claimed. This justification and statement shall be submitted by certified mail. (4) The director shall determine whether the data are protected as a trade secret within 15 days after receipt of the justification and statement, or if no justification and statement is filed, within 30 days of the original notice, and shall notify the employer or manufacturer and any party who has requested the data pursuant to the California Public Records Act of that determination by certified mail. If the director determines that the data are not protected as a trade secret, the final notice shall also specify a date, not sooner than 15 days after the date of mailing of the final notice, when the data shall be available to the public. (5) Prior to the date specified in the final notice, an employer, manufacturer, or producer of a mixture may institute an action in an appropriate superior court for a declaratory judgment as to whether the data are subjected to protection under subdivision (a). (f) This section does not authorize a manufacturer to refuse to disclose information required pursuant to this chapter to the director.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6397. Section 6397.

(a) Any person other than a manufacturer who sells a mixture or any hazardous substance shall provide its direct purchasers of the mixture or hazardous substance at the time of sale with a copy of the most recent MSDS or equivalent information prepared and supplied to the person pursuant to either Section 6390 or subdivision (b) whenever it is foreseeable that the provisions of this chapter may apply to the purchaser. (b) Any person who produces a mixture may, for the purposes of this section, prepare and use a mixture MSDS, subject to the provisions of Section 6395. (c) Any person subject to the provisions of subdivision (a) shall be relieved of the obligation to provide a specific purchaser of a hazardous substance with an MSDS if he or she has a record of having provided the specific purchaser with the most recent version of the MSDS, or if the product is one sold at retail and is incidentally sold to an employer or the employer’s employees, in the same form, approximate amount, concentration, and manner as it is sold to consumers, and, to the seller’s knowledge, employee exposure to the product is not significantly greater than the consumer exposure occurring during the principal consumer use of the product.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6398. Section 6398.

The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board shall adopt a standard setting forth an employer’s duties toward its employees under this chapter, on or before July 1, 1981, consistent with the following guidelines: (a) An MSDS shall be available to an employee, collective bargaining representative, or the employee’s physician, on a timely and reasonable basis, on substances in the workplace. (b) Employers shall furnish employees who may be exposed to a hazardous substance with information on the contents of the MSDS for the hazardous substances or equivalent information, either in written form or through training programs, which may be generic to the extent appropriate and related to the job. (c) Provision shall be made for employees to be informed of their rights under this chapter and under the standard to be adopted.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6398.5. Section 6398.5.

An employer that is required to maintain safety data sheets and ensure that those safety data sheets are readily accessible in accordance with this chapter and Section 5194 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations shall, in the same manner and to the same persons, make readily available the printable information described in subdivision (c) of Section 108954.5 of the Health and Safety Code for designated products, as defined in subdivision (f) of Section 108952 of the Health and Safety Code, in the workplace.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6399. Section 6399.

Upon request, the manufacturer of a hazardous substance or the producer of a mixture who has produced a mixture MSDS pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (b) of Section 6397 shall make available to any employer, whose employees may be exposed to its product in the workplace, an MSDS on its product. If the employer does not already have an MSDS and has not already made written inquiry within 12 months as to whether a substance or product is subject to the requirements of this chapter or if the employer has not already made written inquiry within 6 months as to whether any new, revised, or later information has been issued for a hazardous substance, the employer shall do so within seven working days of a request to do so by an employee or employee’s collective bargaining representative or physician. The employer may adopt reasonable procedures for acting upon such employee requests to avoid interruption of normal work operations. The manufacturer or the producer of a mixture MSDS pursuant to the provisions of Section 6397 shall answer such inquiries within 15 working days of their receipt, stating that the substance or product is subject to the requirements of this chapter and furnishing the most current MSDS or a statement that the MSDS is under development and the estimated completion date, or stating that it is not subject to the requirements of this chapter, with a brief explanation of why the chapter is not applicable. If an employer has not received a response from a manufacturer within 25 working days of the date the request was made, the employer shall send a copy of the request made of the manufacturer to the director with the notation that no response has been received.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6399.1. Section 6399.1.

Compliance with regulations of the Director of Food and Agriculture issued pursuant to Section 12981 of the Food and Agricultural Code shall be deemed compliance with the obligations of an employer toward his or her employees under this chapter.

Cal. Labor Code - LAB § 6399.2. Section 6399.2.

This article shall become operative 180 days after adoption of the initial list of hazardous substances pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section 6380).

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026