THE Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is defending itself against Nature's Care in the Federal Court over its stringent "country of origin" ruling.
Chinese-owned Nature's Care, Australia's third largest vitamin seller, imports fish oil from China and encapsulates it in its Sydney manufacturing plant, claiming that this represents a "substantial transformation" of the product, which is the acid test under new laws the ACCC is expected to uphold.
The ACCC contests that to qualify as Australian-made, the raw ingredients would need to be sourced in Australia as well.
Nature's Care argues that if it was unable to market its products as Australian-made it would incur substantial costs in packaging changes across a wide range of its products.
An ACCC spokesperson said the challenge was the first time the new laws had to be interpreted making this a watershed case but would comment no further on the matter.
The vitamin company marketing campaign is currently fronted by ex-TV host Kerri-Anne Kennerley.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 11 Sep 18
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