The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has published a guide for the textiles, clothing and footwear industries to help them comply with the country of origin guidelines within the Trade Practices Act, 1974.
"Consumers will often make a purchase decision based on the country of origin of a product, especially Australian made products", Acting ACCC Chairman, Mr Rod Shogren, said today. "They may even be prepared to pay a premium for Australian products.
"The ACCC has litigated in the past for false country of origin claims and will do so again if necessary. This guide will help those who wish to make the claim to do so correctly.
"In developing this publication the ACCC led a TCF working party which included representatives from The Council of Textile and Fashion Industries of Australia Limited, and the Business Law and Competition Reform Section of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources".
The Act prohibits conduct that misleads or deceives, or is likely to mislead or deceive. Specifically, s. 53(eb) prohibits businesses from making a false or misleading representation about the place of origin of goods.
Under the Act, companies do not have to state where goods are from, but if they do then the claims must be accurate.*
The 'Made in Australia' 'safe harbour' has two components:
- the goods must have been substantially transformed in the country claimed to be the origin
- 50 per cent or more of the costs of production must have been carried out in that country.
The 'Product of Australia' 'safe harbour' has two rigorous criteria which must be met:
- the country of the claim must be the country of origin of each significant component of the goods
- all, or virtually all, processes involved in the production or manufacture must have happened in that country.
The TCF guide is the second of a series of six ACCC publications which are designed to assist different industries ensure they comply with the Act's country of origin rules.
Textile, clothing and footwear industries – Country of origin guidelines to the Trade Practices Act can be found on the ACCC website www.accc.gov.au, or contact the ACCC Publishing Unit for a hard copy ($10) on (02) 6243 1143.
* Companies also may be obliged to state where goods are from under other legislation such as the Commerce (Trade Descriptions) Act 1905.