Textile importers still await verdict on country of origin labelling

ALAN PEAT THE DEMAND for the individual importer’s code numbers to be included on the country of origin labelling on clothing and textile imports is still being considered by the Pretoria head office of the department of trade and industry (DTI). This was one of the changes to the Merchandise Marks Act of 1941 that was gazetted for May 23 last year – and raised some tricky problems for SA importers. There was no objection to the requirement for textile, clothing and allied products to bear correct country of origin marks at importation and the point of resale, but certain conditions as specified in the gazette notice were described as difficult, and - in some cases - impossible to comply with. One example related to Clause a) ii) – which states “there shall be permanently applied to them in a conspicuous and easily legible manner words stating clearly the SA Revenue Service (Sars) importer registration code for imported goods....” The practicalities of this requirement at the point of production will be either impossible or require substantial additional processing and cost, FTW was told. It was felt that the production process of long runs of material or clothing enabled a standard origin mark to be applied to each product or cloth length. But, for a production run to require that the additional information specific to one order and one client should be applied at the same time, was felt to be an unfair request. As importers told FTW, there was the problem that producers might not know who the ultimate customer was – and therefore have no knowledge of the country of destination, let alone the importer’s name and code. There was also the importers’ concern about the propensity for identity theft if a company’s importer code became publicly available, and the possibility of illegal trafficking on a stolen importer’s code The result was a number of submissions to the DTI seeking clarification of the various issues of concern. These are still under consideration, Shareen Osman, director of textiles, clothing, leather and footwear, told FTW. “But a decision has not yet been reached,” she said.