Claims about country of origin

You must not make false or misleading claims about your goods and services. Goods must also meet certain standards to accurately claim a country of origin.

A claim or representation about country of origin can be made using words and/or pictures and may be suggested:

• in a statement e.g ‘Made in Australia’, ‘Product of Thailand’, ‘Grown in New Zealand’.
• by words or images e.g packaging with a map of Italy and the Italian flag as a part of the design could imply that the product is made in Italy.

Country of origin claims will indicate where the goods were made, produced or grown.

The claim may be:

• attached to the goods (for example, on a label)
• in promotional material linked to the goods.

Statements or images that are an essential part of the goods are not always a claim about country of origin.

For example, a t-shirt:

• represents that Australia is its country of origin if it has a ‘Made in Australia’ label
• does not make this claim by using the word ‘Australia’ as part of its design.

‘Made in’ statements

If you put a ‘made (or manufactured) in’ statement on goods, you claim that:

• work in that country substantially changed what the goods look like or do
• you spent at least half of the producing or manufacturing costs in that country.
• The ‘Made in Australia’ stamp is an example of a ‘made in’ statement.

‘Product of’ statements

A ‘product of’ statement (sometimes ‘produce of’ or ‘produced in’) says that:

• virtually all production or manufacturing happened in that country
• all of the significant parts or ingredients came (and always come from) from that country.

Using a prescribed logo

You can only put a prescribed logo on goods if work in that country:

• significantly changed what the goods do (or what they look like)
• accounts for a certain percentage of their costs (at least 51% for ‘Made in Australia’).

There are currently no prescribed stamps under the Australian Consumer Law.

‘Grown in’ statements

A statement that goods are grown in a certain country claims that:

• at least half of the finished product (compared to its total mass) grew or was processed in that country
• virtually all of the production or manufacturing happened in that country
• all of the significant ingredients or components come from that country.

Certification trademarks

The country of origin of a good can be represented by use of a certification trademark.

The ‘Australian Made, Australian Grown’ logo is an example of a certification trademark. You can only use it with permission of the owner.

Misleading or deceptive conduct

You must not mislead or deceive consumers or other businesses. If you make a false or misleading claim about the origin of goods, you also risk engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct.