11. The Joint FAO/WHO Conference on Food Standards, held in Geneva in October 1962, recommended (see its Report, para. 30) the establishment of a National Codex Alimentarius Committee to provide a focal point for all food standards work in each country. The Commission decided to give effect to this recommendation in the following manner.
12. In urging the establishment as soon as possible of National Codex Alimentarius Committees or such other bodies as would assure the same purposes, the Commission pointed out that in principle each such body should seek representation by all interested government departments, the food industry, food trade, consumer organizations, food hygiene bodies, research institutes and national standards bodies. On the other hand, the actual structure of each Committee or equivalent body must clearly depend upon the particular conditions applicable in the country concerned.
13. The functions of these Committees or equivalent bodies are to help ensure effective participation and the fullest coordination in international food standards work. In particular the fullest coordination should be sought between each country's representatives attending the various international bodies engaged in food standards work. The Commission emphasized the fact that the achievement of this coordination on a national level was an essential condition to allow the Commission to fulfil its coordinating and integrating rôle of all international food standards work.
14. Each member country of the Commission was requested to notify or confirm to the Secretariat the address of its Government's central point of contact for Codex Alimentarius Commission work. Each member country was further requested to notify the Secretariat, where appropriate, of the address and structure of its National Codex Alimentarius Committee or equivalent body. The Secretariat would in turn inform all other member countries. In this way a contact point would have been created in each member country of the Commission. Countries in which National Codex Alimentarius Committees or equivalent bodies have already been established are listed, together with the addresses of each Committee, in Appendix C. Additions or corrections to this list should be sent to the Secretariat as soon as available.
