United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
European Community
4. Matters of interest to the Committee arising from the 42nd (November 1996) and 43rd (May 1997) Sessions of the UNECE Meeting of Experts on Coordination of Standardization of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables and the 52nd Session (November 1996) of the UNECE Working Party on Standardization of Perishable Produce and Quality Development were summarized in the working paper.
5. Dr. Carol Cosgrove-Sacks, Director of the UNECE Trade Division and Representative of the UNECE Secretariat, noted that the UNECE Committee on Agriculture had been abolished and that the UNECE Working Party on Standardization of Perishable Produce and Quality Development now reported to the Committee on Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development. The UNECE Member States agreed to continue to give highest priority to agricultural quality standards with the primary focus of such work on trade issues. The UNECE Member States stressed their support for setting commercial quality standards through collaboration with the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the World Trade Organization and the International Standards Organization. The participation of countries outside the UNECE region and collaboration with other UN Regional Economic Commissions was also noted.
6. The UNECE Representative noted the UNECE Member States’ commitment to work together with Codex to avoid duplication of effort and to achieve the widest possible dissemination of harmonized standards, including the promotion of regular liaison with the Codex Secretariat. In this spirit, it was recalled that the 43rd Session of the UNECE Meeting of Experts noted “the need for a very close cooperation between the UNECE and the Codex Committee and for continued harmonization efforts to avoid duplication of commercial quality standards and reduce participation costs linked to the two separate meetings”.
7. The Representative of the UNECE fully recognized that it was the Codex Committee’s prerogative to decide when setting its standards on the precise, practical form which such cooperation should take in the case of each international standard under consideration. The Codex Committee should continue to take account of UNECE standards in the course of their deliberations, and this fact should be reflected in the resultant documentation.
8. The OECD Representative noted that the OECD Scheme for the Application of International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables was created in 1962, and was open to all exporting or importing countries, Members of the United Nations or its specialized agencies, who desired to participate therein as regards all or some of the products for which there is was an OECD Standard. To date, 22 OECD Member countries and 4 non-member countries participated in the Scheme. The Scheme is administered by a biannual Plenary Meeting which proposes unanimously adopted decisions and recommendations directly to the OECD Council.
9. The Representative of the OECD noted that the Secretariats of the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe as well as Representatives of the European Commission and international organizations representing trade were invited to participate at each OECD Plenary Meeting.
10. It was noted that the OECD Scheme was responsible for:
11. It was also noted that in addition to the elaboration of explanatory brochures, the OECD Plenary Meeting conducted work on the utilization of objective tests of maturity and the exchange of information between national control services.
12. The Representative of the European Community (EC) reiterated its basic position that the broadened mandate of the CCFFV was regrettable. The Community remained particularly concerned in regard to:
13. The Representative of the EC reminded the CCFFV that the UNECE was an organization which had successfully been setting worldwide standards for fruit and vegetables for over 50 years; that these standards are recognized by the WTO as being international; and that all Members of the UN were welcome to contribute actively to the work of the UNECE. The positive experience which the EC had in using UNECE Standards in its international trade was reflected by the fact that the mandatory Community Standards are based on the UNECE Standards which were transposed into the legislation of the Community.
14. In response to the above statement of the EC Representative, the Codex Secretariat noted that the current terms of reference for the CCFFV allowed for full cooperation between Codex and the UNECE, as evidenced by the successful elaboration of harmonized standards for avocado and mango. The 6th Session of the CCFFV had also agreed that wherever possible, the quality provisions of Codex standards should be harmonized with similar standards already elaborated by the UNECE, although it was stressed that changes to the UNECE provisions might be necessary by virtue of the different needs of Codex member governments. In this regard, the 6th CCFFV agreed to add a footnote to all Codex standards to highlight potential differences with similar UNECE texts and to prevent confusion in trade.
15. The Codex Secretariat also noted the decision of the 43rd Session of the Executive Committee in that “In regard to cooperation between the UNECE and Codex in the elaboration of fresh fruit and vegetable standards, the need for close cooperation in order to avoid duplication of effort was reiterated and the suggestion was made that UNECE standards should be used as a starting point for Codex standards where appropriate” and that “relevant UNECE Standards be distributed as working documents for the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables when like products were being considered” (ALINORM 97/3, para. 15). The Codex Secretariat emphasized that the Committee was complying with the Executive Committee’s decision, especially as evidenced by the reproduction of the UNECE Standards for Citrus Fruits and Asparagus for information and use by the CCFFV as a starting point when elaborating harmonized texts.
16. Mr. John Lupien, Director of the FAO Food and Nutrition Division, emphasized the importance of international standards for trade and development, particularly for developing countries. He noted that the Codex Alimentarius Commission is the only worldwide inter-governmental food standards body where all of its 158 Member Governments participate on an equal footing. Mr. Lupien also noted that the World Trade Organization Agreements on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) urged the use of international standards, and specifically Codex Standards under the SPS. The continued future use of UNECE expertise and standards as a starting point for Codex standards was reiterated.
17. In light of the above mentioned Executive Committee’s decision to continue to use UNECE Standards as a starting point for Codex Standards when like products were being considered, it was pointed out that a close harmonization between both sets of standards was important to facilitate international trade. The Committee noted that UNECE Standards would continue to be made available to the CCFFV to accomplish this task.
