Overview

Reforms of Australia’s Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) regulations for food were passed in 2016 and came into full-effect in July 2018. The CoOL reforms were implemented in response to feedback from consumers that previous origin labelling claims on food were hard to find, confusing or did not provide enough information.

The purpose of the CoOL reforms was to provide clearer, more consistent, more informative and easier to find country of origin labels for food. The reforms aimed to help consumers make more informed choices about the food they buy, in line with their personal preferences.

The reforms also clarified the definition of substantial transformation, which had implications for products other than food. 

The Australian Government committed to evaluate the 2016 CoOL reforms in 2020-21, two years after the regulations came into effect.

Why we are consulting

Our department is conducting an impact evaluation of the CoOL reforms. The evaluation seeks to answer the overarching question: Have the CoOL reforms for food:

  • improved consumer access to information about the origin of food
  • clarified the origin claims businesses can make about their products
  • avoided imposing excessive costs on the impacted businesses

Discussion paper

The following survey is based on this discussion paper [260KB PDF] [116KB DOCX], which frames issues we expect to be of particular interest to industry and consumers. The discussion paper text is also viewable at the beginning of the survey.

There are 17 survey questions in total, with 9 consumer related questions and 8 business related questions. As both consumers and industry are encouraged to take part, you may find that some questions are more applicable to you than others. Responses are optional, so you can choose to answer only those questions that apply to you. 

If you would prefer to upload a response, there is an option to do so once you have answered the demographic questions. The survey questions have been included in the downloadable version of the Discussion paper to guide your response.

This is only the first round of consultation. As part of our evaluation, we'll also gather information and feedback from the community and industry through additional surveys, interviews and focus groups.

What happens next

Submissions received will inform the Evaluation of Country of Origin Labelling for Food, which is being undertaken across 2020-21. 

If you have consented to provide your email address to the department, you will receive updates from originlabelling@industry.gov.au on the progress of the evaluation.


Timeline