A ‘substantial transformation’ means that, in the country represented in the origin claim, the product undergoes a fundamental change in identity, nature or essential character from all of their ingredients or components that were imported into that country.
Processes that lead to substantial transformation include:
- processing imported and Australian ingredients into a finished food product, such as the production of a cake from imported spices, fruit and flour and Australian sugar
- production of a newspaper using imported ink
- moulding sheet metal into a car panel
- manufacturing flour from wheat.
It does not include:
- reconstituting imported fruit juice concentrate into fruit juice for sale - whether or not Australian water, sugar, preservatives and packaging were used
- assembling imported components into household or other items - for example: white goods, furniture or electronic products.