South Africa : Clothing to Indicate Country of Origin

South Africa Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has passed final guidelines for the execution of 'Country of Origin' labeling on textiles and garment imports. All goods and clothing will from now on have labels indicating their country of origin. The notice came into effect on 14 April 2007.

According to these regulations the label should feature either ‘product is made in’, ‘produced in’ or ‘manufactured in’, or just the name of the country of origin, essentially in English.

Sale or import of products that do not comply with these rules is prohibited, even if the commodity is manufactured in South Africa.

Government was compelled to take this step after inquiries showed, large amounts of products with no or misleading country of origin labels being sold and imported.

DTI, South African Revenue Services (SARS) and the South African Bureau of Standards will make sure that the rules are strictly being followed. SARS will perform routine inspections and any contraventions will face a fine of up to R5,000 (RM2,400) or up to three years in jail.

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