1. The Codex Alimentarius Commission shall, subject to Article 5 below, be responsible for making proposals to, and shall be consulted by, the Directors-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on all action to be taken in the undermentioned fields:
Promoting coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations;
Determining priorities and initiating and guiding the preparation of draft standards through and with the aid of appropriate organizations;
Finalizing standards elaborated under (b) above and, after acceptance by governments, publishing them in a Codex Alimentarius *, together with international standards already finalized by other bodies under (a) above, wherever this is practicable;
Amending published standards, after appropriate survey, in the light of developments.
2. Membership of the Commission is open to all Member Nations and Associate Members of FAO and WHO which are interested in international food standards. Membership shall comprise such of these nations as have notified the Director-General of FAO or of WHO of their desire to be considered as members.
3. Any Member Nation or 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 WHO, as appropriate, attend sessions of the Commission and of its subsidiary bodies and ad hoc meetings as observers.
4. Nations which, while not Member Nations or Associate Members of FAO or WHO, are members of the United Nations, may be invited on their request to attend meetings of the Commission as observers in accordance with the provisions of FAO and WHO relating to the grant of observer status to nations.
5. The Commission shall report and make recommendations to the Conference of FAO and the appropriate body of WHO through their respective Directors-General. Copies of reports, including any conclusions and recommendations, will be circulated to interested Member Nations and international organizations for their information as soon as they become available.
6. The Commission may establish such subsidiary bodies as it deems necessary for the accomplishment of its task, subject to the availability of the necessary funds.
7. The Commission may adopt and amend its own rules of procedure, which 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 these Organizations.
8. The operating expenses of the Commission and of members of the secretariats of FAO and WHO directly serving it, shall be defrayed by a special Trust Fund administered by FAO on behalf of the two Organizations in accordance with FAO Financial Regulations. Contributions to the Trust Fund from participating countries shall be accepted only through or with the approval of the government concerned. At the end of each year unused sums shall be returnable to contributors or carried over to the following year.
9. All expenses involved in preparatory work on draft standards undertaken by participating governments, whether independently or upon recommendation of the Commission, shall be defrayed by the government concerned. The Commission may, however, decide, prior to the initiation of this preparatory work by participating governments, to allow such part of the cost of the work undertaken by Member Governments on behalf of the Commission as it may determine, to be recognized as its operating expenses.
