"The Australian Made Campaign strongly supports the call by AUSVEG for the Australian Government to continue on its path towards clearer and mandatory country-of-origin labelling," Australian Made Campaign Chief Executive, Ian Harrison, said.
"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."
"The WTO's decision relating to the system introduced in the USA was more to do with complex requirements regarding the traceability of beef products than straightforward country-of-origin legislation," Harrison explained.
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.
