APPENDIX B

RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE COMMISSION AS AMENDED BY THE JOINT FAO/WHO CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION

Second Session, Geneva 28 September - 7 October 1964

KEY TO AMENDMENTS

1. Rules or parts of rules deleted by the Commission are shown within [square brackets]

2. Rules or parts of rules added by the Commission are shown underlined

3. Rules or parts of rules referring to the Trust Fund are shown within asterisked */ parallel vertical lines/

Rule I Membership

1. Membership of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission, hereinafter referred to as “the Commission”, is open to all Member Nations and Associate Members of FAO and/or WHO.

2. Membership shall comprise such eligible nations as have notified the Director-General of FAO or of WHO of their desire to be considered Members of the Commission.

3. Each Member of the Commission shall communicate to the Director-General of FAO or of WHO the names of its representative and where possible other members of its delegation [(see Rule IV.4),] before the opening of each session of the Commission.

Rule II Officers

1. The Commission shall elect a Chairman and three Vice-Chairmen from among the representatives of the Members of the Commission. Except at the first session, they shall be elected at the end of each session and remain in office until their successors are elected at the end of the following session. In the case of the first session, the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen shall be elected at the beginning of the session and shall hold office until the end of the following session. The Chairman and Vice-Chairmen shall be eligible for re-election but after having served two consecutive terms shall be ineligible to hold such office for the next succeeding term.

2. The Chairman, or in his absence a Vice-Chairman, shall preside at meetings of the Commission and exercise such other functions as may be required to facilitate the work of the Commission. A Vice-Chairman acting as Chairman shall have the same powers and duties as the Chairman.

3. If neither the Chairman nor the Vice-Chairmen are able to serve, the Directors-General of FAO and WHO shall appoint a representative to act as Chairman, until new officers have been elected.

4. (a) The Commission may appoint a coordinator from among the representatives or advisers of the Members of the Commission, for any region, or for any group of countries specifically enumerated by the Commission, whenever it may find, on the basis of the proposal of the countries which constitute the region or group, that work for the Codex Alimentarius in the countries concerned so requires.

    (b) Appointment of coordinators shall be made exclusively on the proposal of the countries which constitute the region or group of countries concerned. Coordinators shall hold office for a period of not more than three years as may be determined by the Commission in each instance and may be eligible for re-appointment for one additional term.

    (c) The functions of the coordinators shall be to assist and coordinate the work of the [Expert] Codex Committees [(see Rule IX.1(b).1)]set up under Rule IX.1(b).1 in their region or group of countries, in the preparation of draft standards for submission to the Commission. They shall report to the Chairman of the Commission.

    (d) Where [an Advisory Group] a Coordinating Committee has been set up under Rule IX.1(b).2, the Coordinator of the region involved shall be chairman of the [group.] Committee.

5. The Commission may appoint one or more Rapporteurs from among the representatives of the Members of the Commission.

6. The Directors-General of FAO and WHO shall be requested to appoint from the staffs of their Organizations a Secretary of the Commission and such other officials, likewise responsible to them, as may be necessary to assist the officers and the Secretary in performing all duties that the work of the Commission may require. The costs of such staff in carrying out their duties toward the Commission shall be borne by funds available to cover the work of the Commission [(see Rule X.3.)].

Rule III Executive Committee

1. The Executive Committee shall consist of the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Commission together with six further members, elected by the Commission from among the representatives of the Members of the Commission, one each coming from the following geographical locations: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and Australasia. Elected members shall hold office for two years and shall be eligible for re-election, but after having served two successive terms shall be ineligible to hold such office for the next succeeding term.

2. The Executive Committee shall, between sessions of the Commission, act on behalf of the Commission as its executive organ. The Executive Committee shall in particular make proposals to the Commission regarding the general orientation and program of work of the Commission, study special problems and help implement the program as approved by the Commission. The Executive Committee is also authorized to exercise the Commission's powers under Rule IX.1(b).1.

3. The Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Commission shall be respectively the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Executive Committee.

4. Sessions of the Executive Committee may be convened as often as necessary by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO, in consultation with the Chairman. The Executive Committee shall normally meet immediately prior to each session of the Commission.

5. The Executive Committee shall report to the Commission.

Rule IV Sessions

1. The Commission shall in principle hold one regular session each year at the Headquarters of either FAO or WHO. Additional sessions shall be held as considered necessary by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO after consultation with the Chairman or the Executive Committee.

2. Sessions of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies established under Rule IX.1(a) shall be convened and the place of meeting shall be determined by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO after consultation, where appropriate, with the authorities of the host country.

3. Notice of the date and place of each session of the Commission and of its subsidiary bodies established under Rule IX.1(a) shall be communicated to all Members of the Commission at least two months before the session.

4. Each member of the Commission shall have one representative, who may be accompanied by one or more alternates and advisers.

5. Meetings of the Commission shall be held in public, unless the Commission decides otherwise.

6. [The majority of the registered representatives of the Members of the Commission attending the Session shall constitute a quorum, except for the purposes of applying Rule XII.1, where the majority of the Members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum.]

The majority of the Members of the Commission shall constitute a quorum for the purposes of making recommendations for amendments to the Statutes of the Commission and of adopting amendments of, or additions to, the present Rules in accordance with Rule XIII.1. For all other purposes the majority of the Members of the Commission attending the session shall constitute a quorum, provided that such a majority shall be not less than 20 per cent. of the total membership of the Commission, nor less than 25 Members. In addition, in the case of amendment or adoption of a proposed standard for a given region or group of countries, the quorum of the Commission shall include one third of the Members belonging to the region or group of countries concerned.

Rule V Agenda

1. The Directors-General of FAO and WHO, after consultation with the Chairman of the Commission or with the Executive Committee, shall prepare a provisional Agenda for each session of the Commission.

2. The first item on the provisional Agenda shall be the adoption of the Agenda.

3. Any Member of the Commission may request the Director-General of FAO or WHO to include specific items in the provisional Agenda.

4. The provisional Agenda shall be circulated by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO to all Members of the Commission at least two months before the opening of the session.

5. Any Member of the Commission, and the Directors-General of FAO and WHO, may, after the dispatch of the provisional Agenda, propose the inclusion of specific items in the Agenda with respect to matters of an urgent nature. These items shall be placed on a supplementary list, which, if time permits before the opening of the session, shall be dispatched by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO to all Members of the Commission, failing which the supplementary list shall be communicated to the Chairman for submission to the Commission.

6. No item included in the Agenda by the governing bodies or the Directors-General of FAO and WHO shall be deleted therefrom. After the Agenda has been adopted, the Commission may, by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, amend the Agenda by the deletion, addition or modification of any other item.

7. Documents to be submitted to the Commission at any session shall be furnished by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO to all Members of the Commission, to the other eligible Nations attending the session as observers and to the non-member nations and international organizations invited as observers thereto, in principle at least two months prior to the session at which they are to be discussed.

Rule VI Voting and Procedures

1. [Each] Subject to the provisions of paragraph 3 of this Rule, each Member of the Commission shall have one vote. An alternate or adviser shall not have the right to vote except where substituting for the representative.

2. Except as otherwise provided in these Rules, decisions of the Commission shall be taken by a majority of the votes cast.

3. [In any decision made by the Commission to elaborate or accept a standard, whenever a majority of the countries constituting a given region or a group of countries specifically enumerated by the Commission so desires, the standard shall be elaborated or accepted as a standard primarily intended for that region or group of countries, subject, in the case of decisions to accept such a standard, to the prior submission of the draft text to all Members of the Commission. This provision shall not prejudice the elaboration or acceptance of a corresponding standard for wider use.]

At the request of a majority of the countries constituting a given region or a group of countries specifically enumerated by the Commission that a Standard be elaborated, the Standard concerned shall be elaborated as a Standard primarily intended for that region or group of countries. When a vote is taken on the elaboration, amendment or adoption of a draft Standard primarily intended for a region or group of countries, only Members belonging to that region or group of countries may take part in the voting. The adoption of the Standard may, however, take place only after submission of the draft text to all Members of the Commission for comments. The provisions of this paragraph shall not prejudice the elaboration or adoption of a corresponding Standard with a different territorial scope.

4. [Upon the request of any Member of the Commission voting shall be by roll-call, subject to para. 5 of this Rule, in which case the vote of each Member shall be recorded.]

Subject to the provisions of paragraph 5 of this Rule, any Member of the Commission may request a roll-call vote, in which case the vote of each Member shall be recorded.

5. [When the Commission so decides, voting shall be by secret ballot, subject as appropriate to para. 3 of this Rule.]

Elections shall be decided by secret ballot, except that, where the number of candidates does not exceed the number of vacancies, the Chairman may submit to the Commission that the election be decided by clear general consent. Any other matter shall be decided by secret ballot if the Commission so determines.

6. Formal proposals relating to items of the Agenda and amendments thereto shall be introduced in writing and handed to the Chairman, who shall circulate them to representatives of Members of the Commission.

7. The provisions of Rule XII of the General Rules of FAO shall apply mutatis mutandis to all matters which are not specifically dealt with under Rule VI of the present Rules.

Rule VII Observers

1. Any Member Nation and any Associate Member of FAO or WHO which is not a Member of the Commission but has a special interest in the work of the Commission, may, upon request communicated to the Director-General of FAO or of WHO, attend sessions of the Commission and of its subsidiary bodies as an observer. It may submit memoranda and participate without vote in the discussions.

2. Nations which, while not Member Nations or Associate Members of FAO or WHO, are Members of the United Nations, may, upon their request and subject to the provisions relating to the granting of observer status to nations adopted by the Conference of FAO and the World Health Assembly, be invited to attend in an observer capacity sessions of the Commission and of its subsidiary bodies. The status of nations invited to such sessions shall be governed by the relevant provisions adopted by the Conference of FAO.

3. Any member of the Commission may attend as an observer sessions of subsidiary bodies [of the Commission set up under Art. IX of these Rules. He] and may submit memoranda and participate without vote in the discussions.

4. Subject to the provisions of Rule VII.5 the Director-General of FAO or WHO may invite inter-governmental and international non-governmental organizations to attend as observers sessions of the Commission and of its subsidiary bodies.

5. Participation of international organizations in the work of the Commission, and the relations between the Commission and such organizations shall be governed by the relevant provisions of the Constitutions of FAO or WHO, as well as by the applicable regulations of FAO or WHO on relations with international organizations; such relations shall be handled by the Director-General of FAO or of WHO as appropriate.

Rule VIII Records and Reports

1. At each session the Commission shall approve a report embodying its views, recommendations and conclusions, including when requested a statement of minority views. Such other records for its own use as the Commission may on occasion decide shall also be maintained.

2. The report of the Commission shall be transmitted to the Directors-General of FAO and WHO at the close of each session, who shall circulate it to the Mêmbers of the Commission, to other countries and to organizations that were represented at the session, for their information, and upon request to other Member Nations and Associate Members of FAO and WHO.

3. Recommendations of the Commission having policy, program or financial implications for FAO and/or WHO shall be brought by the Directors-General to the attention of the governing bodies of FAO and/or WHO for appropriate action.

4. Subject to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the Directors-General of FAO and WHO may request Members of the Commission to supply the Commission with information on action taken on the basis of recommendations made by the Commission.

Rule IX Subsidiary Bodies

1. The Commission may establish the following types of subsidiary bodies:

1. subsidiary bodies which it deems necessary for the accomplishment of its work in the finalization of draft standards;

2. subsidiary bodies in the form of:

   1. [Expert] Codex Committees for the preparation of draft standards for submission to the Commission, whether intended for world-wide use, for a given region or for a group of countries specifically enumerated by the Commission.

   2. [Advisory Groups for such regions or groups of countries.]

      Co-ordinating Committees for regions or groups of countries which shall exercise general co-ordination in the preparation of standards relating to such regions or groups of countries and such other functions as may be entrusted to them.

2. [Subject to paragraph 3 below, membership in these subsidiary bodies shall comprise such Members of the Commission as have notified the Director General of FAO or WHO of their desire to be considered as Members thereof, or shall consist of Members of the Commission, as selected by the Commission itself, as shall in each case be determined by the Commission.]

Subject to paragraph 3 below, membership in these subsidiary bodies shall consist, as may be determined by the Commission, either of such Members of the Commission as have notified the Directors-General of FAO or WHO of their desire to be considered as Members thereof, or of selected Members designated by the Commission.

3. Membership of subsidiary bodies established under Rule IX.1(b).1 for the preparation of draft standards intended primarily for a region or group of countries, shall be open only to Members of the Commission belonging to such a region or group of countries [(but see Rule VII.1)].

4. Representatives of members of subsidiary bodies shall, in so far as possible, serve in a continuing capacity and shall be specialists active in the fields of the respective subsidiary bodies.

5. Subsidiary bodies may only be established by the Commission, except where otherwise provided in these Rules. Their terms of reference and reporting procedures shall be determined by the Commission.

6. Subject to Rule IV.2 above, sessions of subsidiary bodies shall be convened as follows:

1. Bodies established under Rule IX.1(a) shall be convened by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO in consultation with the Chairman of the Commission.

2. Bodies established under Rule IX.1(b).1 ([Expert] Codex Committees) shall be convened by the Chairman of the respective [Expert] Codex Committee; however, if a coordinator has been appointed for a region or group of countries concerned [(see Rule II.4)], the Chairman of the [Expert] Codex Committee shall convene such meetings after consultation with the coordinator.

3. Bodies established under Rule IX.1(b).2 [(Advisory Groups)] (Co-ordinating Committees) shall be convened by the Chairman of the [Advisory Group] Co-ordinating Committee in consultation with the Directors-General of FAO and WHO.

7. The establishment of subsidiary bodies under Rule IX.1(a) and IX. 1(b).2 shall be subject to the availability of the necessary funds. Before taking any decision involving expenditure in connection with the establishment of such subsidiary bodies, the Commission shall have before it a report from the Director-General of FAO and/or WHO, as appropriate, on the administrative and financial implications thereof.

8. The [countries which] Members who shall be responsible for appointing chairmen of subsidiary bodies established under Rule IX.1(b).1 ([Expert] Codex Committees) shall be designated at each session by the Commission and shall be eligible for re-designation. All other officers of subsidiary bodies shall be elected by the body concerned and shall be eligible for re-election.

9. The Rules of Procedure of the Commission shall apply mutatis mutandis to its subsidiary bodies.

Rule X Elaboration of Standards (New Rule)

1. Subject to the provisions of these Rules of Procedure, the Commission may establish the procedures for the elaboration of world-wide Standards and of Standards for a given region or group of countries, and, when necessary, amend such procedures.

Rule [X/XI Expenses

1. Expenses incurred by the representatives of the Members of the Commission, their alternates or advisers, and by the observers referred to in Rule VII, shall be borne by the Governments or Organizations concerned. Should experts be invited by the Director-General of FAO or WHO to attend sessions of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies in their individual capacity, their expenses shall be borne out of funds available to cover the work of the Commission.

2. Operating costs of subsidiary bodies established under Rule IX.1(b).1 ([Expert]Codex Committees), other than the costs of representatives and observers attending meetings of such bodies and those incurred by other [countries] Members involved in the work of these bodies, shall be borne by each [country] Member accepting chairmanship of such a body [(see Rule IX.8)].

Rule [IX] XII Languages

1. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 3 below the [The] official and working languages of the Commission and of its subsidiary bodies shall be respectively the official and working languages of FAO and WHO.

2. Where a representative wishes to use another language he shall himself provide the necessary interpretation and/or translation into one of the working languages of the Commission.

3. The working languages of subsidiary bodies set up under Rule IX.1(b)[.1] shall include at least one of the working languages of the Commission.

Rule [XII] XIII Amendments and Suspension of Rules

1. Amendments of or additions to these Rules may be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the [Members of the Commission present and voting] votes cast, provided that 24 hours' notice of the proposal for the amendment or addition has been given. Amendments of or additions to these Rules shall come into force upon approval by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO, subject to such confirmation as may be prescribed by the procedures of the two Organizations.

2. The Rules of the Commission, other than Rule I, Rule II.1,2,3 and 6, Rule IV.2 and 6, Rule V.1,4 and 6, Rule VI.1,2 and 3, Rule VII, Rule VIII.3 and 4, Rules IX.5 and 7, Rule [X]XI, Rule [XII]XIII and Rule [XIII] XIV may be suspended by the Commission by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast, provided that 24 hours' notice of the proposal for suspension has been given. Such notice may be waived if no representative of the Members of the Commission objects.

Rule [XIII] XIV Entry into Force

1. In accordance with Art. 7 of the Statutes of the Commission, these Rules of Procedure shall come into force upon approval by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO, subject to such confirmation as may be prescribed by the procedures of the two Organizations. Pending the coming into force of these Rules, they shall apply provisionally.