1. The Fifth Session of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission was held at FAO Headquarters, Rome, from 20 February to 1 March 1968. The Session was attended by 178 participants including the representatives and observers of 41 countries, and observers from 24 international organizations (see Appendix I for List of Participants).
2. The Fifth Session of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission was convened by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO and was opened on behalf of both Directors-General with a speech of welcome by the Director-General of FAO, Dr. A.H. Boerma.
3. The Director-General recalled the establishment of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program and was pleased to see that the Codex Alimentarius Commission now had so many Member Countries. He specially welcomed the new Members of the Commission and emphasized the importance of the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in connection with the removal of non-economic obstacles to international trade. The Director-General paid tribute to Professor Dols, the retiring Chairman of the Commission.
4. The Commission was presided over by its Chairman, Professor Dr. M.J.L. Dols (Netherlands) and its three Vice-Chairmen, Mr. H.V. Dempsey (Canada), Mr. G. Weill (France) and Mr. J.H.V. Davies (United Kingdom). The Joint Secretaries were Mr. G.O. Kermode (FAO) and Dr. C. Agthe (WHO).
5. During the session, the Commission elected Mr. J.H.V. Davies (United Kingdom) as Chairman of the Commission to serve from the end of the Fifth Session until the end of the Sixth Session. The Commission also elected Mr. I.H. Smith (Australia), Mr. E. Mortensen (Denmark) and Professor Dr. O. Högl (Switzerland) as Vice-Chairmen of the Commission to serve in that capacity from the end of the Fifth to the end of the Sixth Session.
6. The Commission elected from the Members of the Commission representatives for the following geographic locations in the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, to hold office from the end of the Fifth Session to the end of the Seventh Session of the Commission in accordance with Rule III.1 as amended by the Commission: Africa - Ghana, Asia - Japan, Europe - Poland, Latin America - Argentina, North America - U.S.A., South-West Pacific -New Zealand.
Adoption of Agenda
7. The Chairman, when introducing the Report of the Eleventh Session of the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, pointed out that, in the opinion of the Executive Committee, matters requiring decisions by the Commission should be listed in future under separate agenda items, as for example, in the cases of fungi and fungus products, and soups and broths. The Commission unanimously adopted the provisional agenda, ALINORM 68/2, without rearrangement of the items.
