16. The 22nd Session of the Commission considered an outline of proposals for the Medium-Term Plan for 1998-2002 and endorsed the general directions indicated in it. It requested the Secretariat to transmit the outline of the plan to Member Governments for comment[7] and requested Executive Committee to finalize the Plan at the present Session and to submit it for approval by the Commission at its 23rd Session in 1999.[8]
17. The Executive Committee agreed to reinstate in the Medium-Term Outline a Programme area dealing with Strengthening Transparency to take into account the need for improved participation of non-governmental organizations as observers in the Codex decision-making process and the need to take the views of these organizations into account when defining areas of work. The Executive Committee stressed that the Commission could only establish procedures for these purposes in relation to itself, the Executive Committee and other subsidiary bodies established by the Commission, but not for independent expert panels and committees convened outside the framework of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme.
18. In the programme area Food Production and Processing Systems, the Executive Committee was of the opinion that a clear statement by the Commission on the policy approach which assured the safety and nutritional aspects of food prepared from biotechnology was needed as a matter ofpriority. It therefore agreed in amending this programme area to include provision for consideration of a general standard for foods prepared from biotechnology.
19. The Executive Committee made several adjustments in the wording of the Outline of the Medium-Term Plan to ensure that it was consistent with the Four Statements of Principle Concerning the Role of Science in Codex Decision-making and the Extent to which Other Factors be taken into Account adopted by the Commission in 1995.
STATUS OF THE REVISED MEDIUM-TERM PLAN 1998-2002
20. The Executive Committee agreed to submit the Revised Medium-Term Plan 1998-2002 as presented in Appendix 2 to this report to the Commission for adoption.
