‘Unlabelled garments create a loophole for unscrupulous importers’

Clothing union SACTWU has welcomed a recent Gauteng High Court decision on the labelling of imported clothing as a victory that will help boost the local clothing industry.

A clothing importing company had appealed to the National Consumer Tribunal after its consignment of garments was detained by the National Consumer Council for failure to comply with the regulations of the Consumer Protection Act.

The Act says all imports should have a label mentioning the country of origin. The Tribunal however ruled in favour of the importers, allowing the unlabelled garments into the country.

The court judgment later confirmed that garments must indeed carry a country-of-origin label.

SACTWU General Secretary Andre Kriel says allowing unlabelled garments into the country would create a loophole for unscrupulous importers to relabel and sell imports with a Made-in-South Africa label.