California Air Resources Board
On March 25, 2021, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) held a public hearing to adopt amendments
to its Consumer Products volatile organic compound (VOC) regulations.
To review, CARB began regulating Consumer Products in the late 1980s, starting with Antiperspirants/
Deodorants. Since then, more than 150 product categories have been regulated with a 50% reduction in
VOCs from Consumer Products.
This current rulemaking started with a three-year survey from 2013–2015 with 491 consumer product
categories reviewed, surveying more than one million products from
1,500 product manufacturers. This was the largest survey undertaking on
consumer products ever. The years 2016–2018 were then spent processing
and reviewing survey data. The Rule Development Process began in
2019 and included 22 workgroup meetings, five public workshops, as well
as numerous meetings with manufacturers/formulators/trade groups/
non-government organizations (NGOs) and interested stakeholders.
Thus, after nearly two years of meetings, the following amendments were
worked out between CARB and the Industry.
Air Fresheners
Single and Double-phase Aerosol Air Freshener categories were combined into one new product category
called Manual Aerosol Air Freshener. Below are the new product categories, VOC limits and effective dates.
Category VOC Limit Effective Date
Manual Aerosol Air Freshener 10% 2023
Manual Aerosol Air Freshener 5% 2027
New Aerosol Air Freshener Categories
Automatic Aerosol Air Freshener 30% 2023
Concentrated Aerosol Air Freshener 15% 2023
Concentrated Aerosol Air Freshener 10% 2027
Total Release Air Freshener 25% 2023
Hair Care Products
Category VOC Limit Effective Date
Hair Finishing Spray 50% 2023
Dry Shampoo 55% 2023
Dry Shampoo 50% 2029
Hair Shine 50% 2029
Temporary Hair Color 50% 2029
Personal Fragrance Products
Category VOC Limit Effective Date
Aerosol Personal Fragrance Product 70% 2023
Aerosol Personal Fragrance Product 50% 2031
Non-aerosol Personal Fragrance Product
with less than or equal to 7% fragrance 70% 2023
Non-aerosol Personal Fragrance Product
with less than or equal to 10% fragrance 50% 2031
*Special Note: Technology Assessment 2027
Aerosol Crawling Bug Insecticide
Category VOC Limit Effective Date
Aerosol Crawling Bug Insecticide 8% 2030
New Category
Aerosol Bed Bug Insecticide 15% 2030
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terco.com
Regulatory Issues
Doug Raymond
Raymond Regulatory Resources
summitpackagingsystems.com
8 Spray May 2021