Lungren

The Ingredient Communication Council, Inc. (ICC) is a nonprofit membership corporation doing business in California. Its membership consists of 37 manufacturers, retailers and agricultural producers involved in marketing thousands of products in retail stores in California which may be subject to regulation pursuant to Proposition 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Act). (Health & Saf. Code, § 25249.5 et seq.) ICC was founded in 1987 to establish for the benefit of its members a consumer notification and warning program, using an 800 line telephone system in combination with newspaper advertising and in-store signs designed to promote consumer inquiries using the 800 line system. ICC designed this program to assist its members in complying with the warning requirements of the Act.

ICC brought an action for declaratory relief against the state Attorney General seeking an authoritative interpretation of a regulation issued by the state Health and Welfare Agency pursuant to the Act and a declaration that ICC’s system for warning consumers about carcinogenic and toxic substances contained in its products in retail stores, using a combination of…