'Made-in' label: Unnecessary, Complicated, Expensive

The 27 EU Member States are preparing their decision on a proposal1 by the European Commission to introduce a mandatory 'made-in' label. Amazingly, the obligation to carry such label would be limited to some imported consumer goods only, such as textiles, clothing, shoes, leather, furniture, etc... raising questions on its real objectives. The so-called 'Made-in' proposal is unnecessary, complicated and expensive for companies, consumers and member states. According to AEDT President, Betty van Arenthals: "European companies, especially SMEs, are fed up with EU provisions creating just additional bureaucracy but no added-value to enhance their competitiveness. Furthermore, the 'Made-in' proposal is in complete contradiction with the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy and the Commission initiatives on simplification and reduction of administrative burdens". Furthermore, FENA President, Denis Heylen, stresses that "in global production chains, a product is often processed in a number of different countries and therefore indicating a single country of origin would be misleading for consumers". He also underlines that "a 'Made-in' label says absolutely nothing on the conditions of production and on the safety of the goods concerned. This issue is just exploited to hide the real protectionist purposes of the proposal". AEDT and FENA urge all EU member states: - to reject once and for all the 'Made-in' proposal and; - not to be misled by those who, under the guise of safety concerns, use the 'Made-in' proposal for protectionist purposes.