Other Business, Future Work and Date and Place of the Next Session (Agenda Item 11)

MRLS for pesticides and veterinary drugs

91. The Chairman of the Committee on Pesticide Residues, Dr. vanEck (Netherlands) drew the attention of the Committee to the problems arising from the establishment of differentMRLs for the same compounds in the same commodity when used as pesticides or as veterinary drugs, and stressed the importance of improving coordination between the CCPR and the Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods, as well as among delegates at the national level attending meetings of these committees; similarly the approaches followed by the corresponding expert groups, JECFA and JMPR should beharmonized. These views were supported by the Chairman of the CCRVDF, Dr.Sundlof (USA).

92. The Delegation of Canada indicated that other inconsistencies existed in the definition of some commodities and the expression of the MRL for pesticides and for veterinary drugs, and the Committee agreed that this should be addressed by the concerned committees (CCPR, CCRVDF, Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling, Committee on Meat Hygiene). The Delegation also stressed the importance of coordinating the work on method validation currently underway in the CCPR, CCRVDF and CCMAS, while recognizing that the objectives and needs of these committees might be different.

93. The Secretariat informed the Committee that the Joint FAO/IAEA Expert Consultation on the Validation of Analytical Methods for Food Control (Vienna, December 1997) had been convened with the purpose of establishing a common basis for method validation and would provide guidance to Codex Committees in this area, with a view to achieving aharmonized approach. The Committee recognized that the harmonization of risk assessment and risk management procedures across Codex work was an essential element of the standard setting process and that efforts should be pursued to strengthen coordination between committees in this perspective.

94. The Delegation of Egypt raised the issue of the establishment of pesticideMRLs in fish and in aromatic herbs, in view of its importance for export purposes and the Committee noted that this question should be submitted to the CCPR, which would be prepared to consider proposals if relevant data were provided.

Distribution of Documents

95. In reply to a question by the Delegation of Switzerland, the Secretariat recalled that Codex working documents were placed on the Internet prior to the sessions of committees and that the distribution of Circular Letters was restricted to Codex Contact Points and international organizations. The Codex-L List included the Contact Points, chairpersons of Committees and international organizations, and was used to distribute Circular Letters, working documents and reports. The Secretariat drew the attention of the Committee to the document prepared for the Executive Committee[15], which provided the update on the distribution of documents, including the modalities of access to the Codex web site and Codex-L List. Throughout the meeting countries raised the problems they had in receiving documents and stressed the necessity to provide documents in the non-English languages in time in order to avoid additional costs to developing countries.

Future Work

96. The Committee noted that its future work would include the following items carried forward from its discussions at the present session:

• Risk Analysis (Definitions and Working Principles);

• Measures intended to facilitate consensus;

• Special and differential treatment of developing countries;

• Acceptance/notification procedures;

• Examination of the TBT Agreement as it relates to Codex standards and texts;

• Application of Codex "Advisory" texts (Paper by Australia);

• The role of science and other legitimate factors in general;

• The role of science and other legitimate factors in relation to BST;

• Draft Principles concerning the Participation of International Non-Governmental Organizations in the Work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission;

• Proposed "Core Functions" of Codex Contact Points;

• Application of Rule VII of the Commission's Rules of Procedure;

• Revision of the Code of Ethics (subject to approval by the 23 ^rd Session of the Commission.

97. The Delegation of Switzerland recalled its proposal to discuss the subject of criteria for the establishment and operation of ad hoc working groups, but the Committee agreed not to consider the matter at this stage.

Date and Place of the Next Session

98. The Committee was informed that its Fourteenth Session would be held from 26 to 30 April 1999 in Paris.

SUMMARY STATUS OF WORK

Subject Matter		Step	Action by	Reference in ALINORM 99/33
Criteria for the Establishment of Work Priorities (revised)			Governments 23rd CAC	para. 82 Appendix II
Criteria for the Establishment of Subsidiary Bodies (revised)			Governments 23rd CAC	para. 82 Appendix III
Definitions of Risk Analysis Terms			Governments 14th CCGP	para. 16
Status of Codex Standards and Related texts			Australia/Secretariat	para. 57
	- Standards		14th CCGP
	- Related Texts		Codex Committees	para. 53
Measures to facilitate consensus			Secretariat 14th CCGP	para. 30
Consideration of special treatment for developing countries			Secretariat 14th CCGP	paras. 41, 88
Acceptance Procedure			Secretariat 14th CCGP	para. 49
Consideration of factors other than science in the decision process/ in relation to BST			Secretariat 14th CCGP	para. 70
Principles concerning the participation of NGOs in the work of Codex			Secretariat 14th CCGP	para. 78
"Core Functions" of Codex Contact Points			Secretariat/Governments 14th CCGP	paras. 7, 96
Application of Rule VII of the Rules of Procedures			Secretariat 14th CCGP	paras. 11, 96
Review of the Code of Ethics			CAC 15th CCGP	para. 90