AUSVEG is this week claiming that reforms to Australian Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) laws can be successfully implemented and should not be influenced by the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) view that America’s CoOL system violates international law.
The national vegetable body said the recent WTO ruling should not affect the implementation and enforcement of stricter CoOL laws in Australia, given the numerous examples of other major world economies implementing CoOL systems without incident.
AUSVEG deputy CEO Andrew White said the American CoOL system had been subject to challenge due to its complexity, as well as political factors.
“The European Union, on the other hand, is a massive player on the world stage, and has in place CoOL systems of varying types for various food commodities, which have not been subject to the legal challenges we have seen applied to the American system,” he said.
“We are calling on the government to continue its push for stricter CoOL laws. A simple and informative system implemented in Australia should not be subject to the same international legal challenges as the US system, and will give the public the ability to easily discern the country of origin of the products they purchase.”
AUSVEG has long been a vocal advocate for stricter CoOL laws to replace the current labelling system, and has previously called for a front-of-pack label indicating the country of origin of characterising ingredients, text that indicates country of origin to be 40 per cent larger than surrounding text, and a representative diagram to identify the proportion of the product that is composed of Australian ingredients.
“CoOL systems have been implemented in other countries that have not been subject to the same level of legal scrutiny as the US system, proving that there is scope for comprehensive CoOL laws to be applied without being challenged,” said White.
“Australian consumers overwhelmingly want to see improvements to the current system, with a CHOICE consumer survey conducted last year indicating that 85 per cent of respondents believe it was crucial or very important for them to be able to identify if the food they buy has been grown in Australia.
“Elements of the Australian food industry, which has been working for years to prevent a meaningful CoOL system being implemented, should not be allowed to get away with using this ruling to suggest that international trade obligations are a barrier to better laws that provide Australian consumers with clarity about where the food they are buying comes from.”
The Australian Made Campaign is also urging the government to stay on course with its proposals for mandatory country-of-origin labelling and not be distracted by issues related to the USA’s country-of-origin regime.
The campaign's chief executive Ian Harrison agreed that issues relating to the USA’s country-of-origin regime should have no bearing on the Australian government’s stated intention to provide consumers with improved country-of-origin labelling here in Australia.
"It should not be distracted by a largely unrelated matter,” he said.
“The WTO’s decision relating to the system introduced in the US was more to do with complex requirements regarding the traceability of beef products than straightforward country-of-origin legislation.
"The not-for-profit Australian Made Campaign administers and promotes the Australian Made, Australian Grown logo, Australia’s registered country-of-origin certification trade mark for all classes of Australian goods.
"The rules for using the logo on food products are more stringent than the rules for making country-of-origin claims under Australian Consumer Law. The Australian Made Campaign has been lobbying for that gap to be closed, and an education program to be rolled out to help increase understanding of country-of-origin claims and the value proposition of buying Australian made and Australian grown products."
