# What Are The EU Laws on Country of Origin Labelling?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-eu-laws-on-country-of-origin-labelling/526958>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 29, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-eu-laws-on-country-of-origin-labelling/526958 "2010-01-29T22:28:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-eu-laws-on-country-of-origin-labelling/526958/1 "2010-01-29T22:28:20Z")

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My wife is convinced that a lot of clothing marked “Made in Italy” is really manufactured somewhere else. Specifically, men’s shirts. She saw some shirts with the “made in italy” label, and they seemed to be stiched together poorly. She was told that a lot of manufacturers import shirts from Asian countries (into Italy), in semi-finished form. In Italy, the cuffs and colars are sewn on, which allows the mfg. to claim Italian origin.  
Is this true?

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**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-eu-laws-on-country-of-origin-labelling/526958/2 "2010-01-29T23:19:58Z")

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I think this might very well be true, but I’m not sure and though I have heard of similar schemes (mostly dealing with value added tax issues) I have no cite for you. What makes you think this is regulated by the EU, though, and not by Italy itself?

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-eu-laws-on-country-of-origin-labelling/526958/3 "2010-01-30T00:06:51Z")

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Just because something is made in Italy doesn’t mean it’s quality. The older model FIAT comes to mind.

The film “Gomorrah” has a scene where counterfeit dresses are made in Italy by Chinese laborers.

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**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-eu-laws-on-country-of-origin-labelling/526958/4 "2010-01-30T00:16:02Z")

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If you ever see clothes marked “Made in America”, they’re probably made in either Guam or the Marianas Islands. What was the question again?