Consumer Right To Know Act Fails in California

“Our association could not support this bill because it did not strike the appropriate balance between transparency about the ingredients in our products and the need to protect our intellectual property,” said CSPA president Chris Cathcart. “We are pleased to see that we will be able to continue our discussions with Senator Simitian and the other stakeholders on this important issue and hope to reach agreement in 2011.”

The bill would have required companies to disclose proprietary product information.

CSPA proposes that a legislative or regulatory approach to “right-to-know” could build upon a voluntary consumer product ingredient communication initiative that became effective the first of this year. In fact, the Association has for the past year been working with major non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to expand the program in an effort to reach agreement on and support such reasonable legislation in California and at the federal level. Despite that CSPA member companies compromised on many issues through its work with the NGOs and Senator Simitian, the stakeholders were unable to reach agreement on the bill.

“What our industry put on the table through our work with Senator Simitian and the NGOs would have been the most far-reaching right-to-know mandate required of any industry in the world. We need to work together so that we do not miss another opportunity in 2011,” Cathcart concluded.

More info: www.cspa.org