The Consumer Information Standards (Country of Origin (Clothing and Footwear) Labelling) Regulations 1992 require that:
- articles of clothing and footwear be labelled or marked to show the country in which they were made or produced;
- the label or marking be in English with letters of a clear medium width that are not less than 1.5mm in height;
- clothing be labelled with a permanent label which can be seen by a prospective purchaser. Where this is not possible because of the way the clothing is packaged, displayed or folded, or where it is not possible for a particular article to be labelled permanently, country of origin information must be provided on packaging or on an accompanying label or pamphlet;
- the country of origin be printed, stencilled, branded or marked on each item of footwear so it can be seen by the consumer. Where this is not possible, for reasons of design, composition or construction, country of origin information must be provided on packaging or on an accompanying label or pamphlet.
The regulations do not apply to second-hand clothing and footwear.
Example
A souvenir and tourist retailer sold T-shirts on which the logos, neck and swing tag labelling implied the garments were made in New Zealand but ‘Made in Pakistan’ labels were sewn in the inside side seams of the garments. The company was convicted and fined for making misleading representations as to the origin of the garments and because the origin labels were in the side seams, which did not satisfy the requirement of being accessible for examination.