Consumer Rights Case Study

Consumer rights issue:

The current country of origin labelling laws are not providing adequate protection to consumers and their rights. Under the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) consumers are to be protected against being misled by country of origin labels. However the issues within this consumer right are not being sufficiently addressed by the Australian government. If approached correctly the Australian government may use strategic law reforms to solve this serious consumer rights issue. The role of the ACL (Australian Consumer Law) is to ensure that consumers are guaranteed products of reasonable quality. Consumers are entitled to assume that products are safe. Properly informing them on the country of origin of

Consumers should be able to have sufficient knowledge of where abouts the seafood comes from. They may have multiple reasons as to why they want to know the country of origin, whether it be due to the safety of the food, the sustainability, the labour used to produce the food or even the mercury levels which may be in the fish.‘At restaurants, 70 per cent of the fish is imported, according to the Australian seafood industry 's submission’. Once the seafood is on the menu or served to someone the country of origin is disregarded and does not legally have to be shown. A consumer has a right to be educated on where the seafood comes. However this is not enough information as products could still be deemed as unsafe. The government has no specific reasoning for not providing the consumer with the country of origin. Giving a consumer this information is not difficult for businesses to do, it will not be costly and will help to provide the consumers with the information to which they are

Australian country of origin labelling is already difficult for consumers to comprehend. The new reforms will not be effective if this issue is not addressed. If the new labels are difficult to understand it will only make it harder for consumers to support Australian farmers and make an informed decision on the goods. This will only be achieved if the new labels to be enforced are more understandable to consumers. The kangaroo and Australian flag logo which will be put on these new labels will be eye catching, simple and easy to comprehend. However the text which accompanies this logo will make it difficult for consumers to interpret. A consumer mentioned that ‘“..as a shopper, I spend a lot of time in the supermarket squinting at the fine print trying to work out what really is Australian-made or has the most Australian content.”’ The Australian government should consider removing the text from these new labels so this law reform is more successful and understandable. The text on these labels would only further confuse consumers. It would also make consumers question these products and their country of origin even more than before. The government should aim to inform consumers in the simplest way possible to ensure a clear understand with no chances of being