Codex Committee Report (ALINORM 09/32/36), 10 – 14 November 2008

CODEX – Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (16th Session) Acapulco, Mexico

The 16th Session of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean reached the following conclusions:

MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION AND THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

The Committee:

Implementation of the Codex Strategic Plan 2008 - 2013

• recognized the need for strengthening National Codex Committees and Codex Contact Points in countries of the Region in order to ensure effective participation of countries in the work of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies (Activity 5.4) and the important role that the parent organizations could play in providing technical assistance in this regard (para. 12);

Length and content of Codex reports

• agreed to ask the Commission to reconsider the recommendations on the naming of members (point 1, second indent) and to rescind the recommendation in point 2 of paragraph 26 of ALINORM 08/31/3A (para. 44);
• decided to request the Committee on General Principles to determine whether the current provision in the Procedural Manual under Point 1 of Rule X – Records and Reports – and the final paragraph of the Section Conduct of Meetings – Guidelines on the Conduct of Meetings of the Codex Committees and Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Forces was the same as the recommendation approved by the Commission on the naming of members (point 1, second indent, paragraph 26 of ALINORM 08/31/3A) and if it was not, to determine whether both needed to be retained and, if they were the same, that a decision by taken on one of them (para. 48);

Simultaneous and timely distribution of Codex documents in the official languages of the Commission

• agreed to propose that the Commission consider a new provision for inclusion in the Procedural Manual to the effect that Codex documents should be distributed in a simultaneous and timely manner in the official languages of the Codex and that no Codex document should be distributed when this provision could not be met (para. 52);

Nomination of the Coordinator

• unanimously agreed to recommend to the Commission that Mexico be reappointed for a second term as coordinator for Latin America and the Caribbean (para. 64);

Future work

• agreed to propose new work on regional standards for culantro coyote and lucuma, subject to approval by the Commission on the basis of the critical evaluation carried out in the Executive Committee (paras. 72 and 76).

MATTERS REFERRED TO CODEX COMMITTEES AND TASK FORCES:

The Committee:

Committee on General Principles

Terms of reference for coordinating committees

• decided to request the Commission, through the Committee on General Principles, to clarify whether the current terms of reference for the Coordinating Committees could be interpreted to give them full freedom to issue regional opinions on all themes under discussion in Codex of strategic importance to the region concerned. If the response of the Committee on General Principles and the Commission to this question was affirmative, there would be no need to modify the terms of reference (para. 9);
• agreed, in relation to the request from the Committee on General Principles, that it be informed of the experiences of Coordinating Committees on the adoption of regional positions and that such reporting be made after receiving clarification on the above question, while noting that the last session of the Coordinating Committee had taken positions on various matters (para. 10);

Consensus

• acknowledged the importance of consensus-based decision-making in Codex and agreed on a proposed definition that could be taken as a starting point for discussion in the Committee on General Principles (para. 54);

Committee on Pesticide Residues

Risk analysis principles applied by the Committee on Pesticide Residues

• supported the revision of the principles to strengthen the scientific basis of the process (para. 58);

Committee on Food Additives

Steviol glycosides

• expressed its great interest in supporting work on steviol glycosides within the Committee on Food Additives by developing maximum levels for steviol glycosides for conclusion in the Codex General Standard for Food Additives (para. 82).

MATTERS OF INTEREST TO FAO AND WHO:

The Committee:

Activities of FAO and WHO complementary to the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission

• expressed its appreciation of the valuable support received from FAO and WHO and requested that technical assistance be continued in the following specific areas: integrated and risk-based food control systems, establishment of national food safety agencies, generation of scientific data to support risk assessment and management, formulation of national food safety policy and implementation strategies (para. 16);

Allocation of funds of the Codex Trust Fund

• agreed to request the Secretariat of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Trust Fund to give due consideration to the proposals presented in Appendix II of the present report and to request FAO and WHO to facilitate dialogue between donor countries and beneficiary countries so that identified concerns and proposals for improvement were openly discussed (para. 40).

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

The Committee:

Activities of the STDF Programme in the Region

• noted that the STDF Programme was meant to complement technical assistance provided by FAO and WHO, with a focus on links between trade and implementation of standards, and invited delegations to address their specific questions directly to the Secretariat of the STDF and to refer to further information about the STDF available on its website (paras. 19-20);

National food control systems and consumer participation in food standards setting

• noted the current status and recent developments of food control, food legislation, equivalence agreements, Codex structures and consumer participation in standard-setting activities (para. 21);

Use of Codex standards at national and regional level

• noted that the non-use of Codex standards for the harmonization of regulations could be due to several factors, including delays in standards development and rapidly changing environments surrounding food legislation. It therefore recognized that monitoring the use of Codex standards was an important measure of the relevance of Codex standards and agreed to use a common format when submitting this information (paras. 23 and 24);
• encouraged all members of the Region to report on their use of Codex standards and related texts in order to obtain a clear and updated picture of the use of Codex standards and the reasons justifying the failure to fully or partially adopt those standards in order to evaluate the Codex normative function (para. 28);

Private standards

• agreed that Codex work should be strengthened in order to discourage the use and proliferation of private standards and that the Commission should adopt a position in relation to this matter; and encouraged the members of the Region to consider concrete actions that could be taken in the framework of Codex (para. 63);

Future work

• invited the Delegation of Bolivia to submit a revised project document on the need for a regional standard for Quinoa which the Committee could examine at its next session (para. 79).