12 – 16 April 2010

CODEX - 26th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles, Paris, France

Summary and conclusions of the 26th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles:

Matters for adoption by the Commission:

The Committee agreed to forward to the Commission the:

• Draft Revised Code of ethics for international trade in food including concessional and food aid transactions at Step 8 (para 35, Appendix II).
• Proposed amendment to the Guidelines to Chairpersons of Codex Committees and Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Forces (para 46 and Appendix III).
• Proposed amendment to the Guidelines to Host Governments of Codex Committees and Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Forces (para 98 and Appendix V).
• The Committee endorsed the Proposed Draft Risk Analysis Principles and Procedures Applied by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene provided by the CCFH (para 16).
• The Committee endorsed the the proposal for the amendment of the section on food additives in the Format for Codex Commodity Standards (para 17).

Matters of interest to the Commission:

• The Committee agreed that there was no merit in having a general definition of the term “competent authority” (para 63).
• The Committee agreed to circulate the revised terms of reference for comments and further consideration at the next session (para 73 and Appendix IV).
• The Committee agreed to circulate the working document CX/GP 10/26/8 on Joint Codex/OIE standards for discussion at the next session (para 85).
• The Committee agreed that the Codex secretariat would create a specific page on co-hosting on the Codex website (para 98 and Appendix VI).
• The Committee agreed to consider a discussion paper on standards held at step 8 (para 115).
• The Committee agreed to consider the development of a mechanism for examining economic impact statements (para 121).

Matters of interest to other Committees

CCFA, CCCF, CCRVDF, CCPR, CCNFSDU, CCFH:

• The Committee agreed to forward the review presented in CL 2010/1-GP to the committees for consideration and review of their risk analysis policies (para 55).
• The Committee agreed to forward a proposal to amend the definition of the term “hazard” to the committees (para 58).