Country of Origin Labelling Review Announced in CTH
Monday 21 December 2015 @ 9.57 a.m. | Legal Research
Last week, the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science released the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement into Country of Origin Labelling and the new Country of Origin Food Labelling System.
Background to the Review
According to a media release on 1 April 2015, the Department began the review to "deliver clearer and more consistent country of origin labelling for food sold in Australia."
According to Minister Joyce, the Australian people have asked for this change and that the Government would deliver it.
"Australian consumers have made it clear they want unambiguous and more consistent country of origin food labelling, so they can make more informed choices about the food they buy.
We hear clearly that consumers want more information about where their food has been grown and processed. I’ve received in the order of 26,000 emails and about 150 personally written letters asking us to make improvements to country of origin labelling, and more than a million Australians visited my website in response to the Government's announcement.
Current labelling in many instances is misleading and people have a right not to be misled about the origins of the food they buy.
Simple, diagrammatic information on a package will allow people to tell at a glance what proportion of the food in a package comes from Australia – and it must be compulsory.
The Government is taking action on this issue now and will steadily work through the complex implementation process. Of course there will be a phase-in period to ensure Australian producers have time to adjust to new labelling requirements.
This was one of the key issues raised as part of the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper process and I'm pleased to see this important reform being progressed independently of the forthcoming White Paper."
Current Terms of Reference and Review Scope
The Australian Government announced a proposed new country of origin food labelling (CoOL) system on Tuesday 21 July 2015. Consultation is now open on the Regulatory Impact Statement for country of origin labelling for food.
While Australia already has mandatory CoOL for food, consumers find current origin labels confusing or unhelpful. The Australian Government is proposing a new system to deliver clearer and more consistent country of origin food labels without imposing excessive cost on industry.
The proposed new system will see the continuation of mandatory country of origin labelling for most food offered for retail sale in Australia. In addition to a statement about where the food was produced, grown, made or packaged, most Australian food will carry the familiar kangaroo symbol and an indication of the proportion of Australian ingredients by weight through a statement and a bar graph. The new system will also see clearer rules around when food labels can carry ‘made in’ or ‘packed in’ statements.
The Consultation RIS examines the advantages, disadvantages and costs of potential improvements to the country of origin labelling framework.
Final submissions are due by 29 January 2016.
TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.
