Labelling your products checklist

You may choose to provide information about where your products come from, such as a “made in Australia” label. If you label your product with a country of origin claim, it must be accurate. Under the Australian Consumer Law, false or misleading origin claims can lead to penalties, so it's important to get this right.

It is mandatory to include a country of origin label for certain products, such as food products and some imported products.

Certain goods or appliances need to comply with environmental labelling standards before you can sell them. This includes both products imported or manufactured in Australia. Each standard sets out a rating and labelling system. The ratings let consumers know how efficiently a product uses an environmental resource. The rating can also help promote suppliers with high rating products.

• If you are supplying or selling products regulated under the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme, there are important labelling requirements you need to meet.
• If you are an importer, manufacturer or supplier of energy efficiency regulated products in Australia, you may be required to display an energy rating label.
• The fuel consumption labelling standard requires a model specific fuel consumption label to be placed on the windscreens of all new vehicles up to 3.5 tonne gross vehicle mass.

Products containing chemicals have different labelling requirements depending on their use.

• Consumer chemical products must follow the labelling requirements of the Poisons Standard.
• For industrial chemicals, refer to Safe Work Australia’s guidance on labelling hazardous chemicals.
• Agricultural and veterinary chemical products must follow the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority’s labelling codes.

If your business sells or manufactures cosmetic products, you must comply with the mandatory standard for cosmetics ingredients labelling.

This standard requires you to supply a list of ingredients with the cosmetic. This is so consumers who have sensitive skin or suffer from allergic reactions can know what is in the product.

Therapeutic goods include both prescription and non-prescription medicines, medical devices, and biologicals. A therapeutic good must have approval from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) before you can sell it in Australia. There are also packaging and labelling requirements you must meet.

There are country of origin labelling requirements for food products in Australia.

A range of food labelling requirements are also set out under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, including for:

• use by and best before dates
• ingredients, food additives and allergens
• nutrition information
• health advice and claims
• the supplier’s name and address.

The Australian Border Force (ABF) may seize items that are incorrectly labelled when you import. Make sure you comply with labelling requirements for imported goods, including for trade descriptions and food standards.

There are generally no specific labelling requirements for exporting products. If you include a trade description, you must make sure it is not false or misleading. You will also need to make sure you meet any labelling requirements for the country you are exporting to.

Label designs for pre-packaged goods must comply with national trade measurement laws. These include requirements for the:

• position, size and format of measurement information (such as a product's weight)
• name and address of the packer for articles packed in Australia.

You must provide a street address in Australia, and not a PO Box, email or online address.

Certain products have mandatory safety standards they must meet, including labelling requirements.