Unfair business and sales practices

This page has information for businesses about country of origin claims on goods.

You must not make false or misleading representations about the country of origin of goods.

Representing country of origin

A representation about country of origin can include words or pictures indicating that goods were made, produced or grown in a particular country.

Any words or pictures on a product must accurately represent where the produce is from.

The representation can be either:

• attached to the goods - eg: on a label
• or in promotional material linked to the goods.

Representations about country of origin include:

• made in a specific country
• product of or produced in a specific country
• use of a prescribed logo that identifies a place of origin
• claims that goods, or ingredients or components, were grown in a specified country.

Made-in claims

To claim goods are made in a particular country, both of the following must apply:

• they must be substantially transformed in that country
• 50% or more of the total cost of producing or manufacturing the goods must be incurred in that country.

Substantially transformed means the product undergoes a fundamental change. The change can be to the product’s appearance, operation or purpose.

Processes that lead to substantial transformation include all of the following:

• processing imported and Australian ingredients into a finished food product, such as the production of a cake from imported spices, fruit and flour, and Australian sugar
• production of a newspaper using imported ink
• moulding sheet metal into a car panel 
• manufacturing flour from wheat.

It does not include:

• reconstituting imported fruit juice concentrate into fruit juice for sale - whether or not Australian water, sugar, preservatives and packaging are used
• assembling imported components into household or other items - eg: white goods, furniture or electronic goods.

Product-of or produced-in claims

To claim goods are a product of or produced in a particular country the following must apply:

• virtually all the production or manufacturing happened in that country
• all of the significant ingredients or parts must come from that country.

Use of a logo

If a business labels a product with a logo such as ‘Made in Australia’ the goods must:

• be substantially transformed in Australia
• meet the percentage of production or manufacturing costs that apply for that logo.

Grown-in claims

A business can claim goods are grown in a particular country when:

• at least half the total weight comprises ingredients or components grown and processed in that country
• virtually all production or manufacturing processes happen in that country
• each significant ingredient or significant component was grown and processed only in that country.