United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
European Community (EC)
12. The working paper prepared by the Codex Secretariat summarized the matters of interest to the Committee arising from the 53rd (Geneva, Switzerland, 12-14 November 1997) and 54th (Geneva, Switzerland, 9-11 November 1998) Session of the Working Party on Standardization of Perishable Produce and Quality Development as well as the 1st Session of the UNECE Committee for Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development (Geneva, Switzerland, 9-11 December 1997) and the 44th Session of the UNECE Meeting of Experts on Coordination of Standardization of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (Geneva, Switzerland, 2-6 November 1998).
13. The representative of the UN/ECE informed the Committee of the completion of the UN/ECE reform. As a result UN/ECE member states continued to give the highest priority to the work on agricultural quality standards which is underlined by recent events:
14. The UN/ECE representative informed the Committee that the 54th session of the UN/ECE Working Party on Standardization of Perishable Produce and Quality Development decided to withdraw the proposal to change the title of the UN/ECE standards to UN standards in view of the response of the Legal Counsel of the United Nations concerning this issue.
15. The UN/ECE representative noted the participation of countries outside the ECE region in the UN/ECE groups. The 44th session of the Meeting of Experts on Coordination of Standardization of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables had been attended by delegations of 26 countries including Chile, Mexico, Thailand, New Zealand and South Africa. He said that all member states of the United Nations had the possibility to participate in UN/ECEs work on standardization of perishable produce with equal rights.
16. The UN/ECE representative noted further that in his view the cooperation between the UN/ECE and Codex secretariats had functioned very well as evidenced by the work on Citrus Fruit and Asparagus. He stressed that the UN/ECE secretariat continued to make every effort within its responsibilities to avoid any duplication of work. He pointed out though that these efforts could only be effective if matched by efforts of the countries deciding on the work programmes of the different international organizations to do the same.
17. The Delegation of Switzerland welcomed this cooperation between the Codex and UNECE Secretariats. However, it expressed its concerns that any duplication of standards should be avoided and that therefore, the work of both organizations should be done with economic effectiveness in order to have only one international standard for trade.
18. The Delegation of Chile pointed out the high technical level of the discussions at the UNECE meetings. However, discussion sometimes moved away from technical level and international trade as in the case of green oranges, with negative consequences for the development of the standard.
19. The Observer of the European Community, on behalf of the Member States of the European Union, expressed his concern about the broadened mandate of the CCFFV. He recalled that UNECE was an organization which had been setting standards for fresh fruits and vegetables for over 50 years and that EU Member States remained particularly concerned in regard to any duplication of work since this meant a waste of resources and could cause confusion in international trade. The Observer noted that cooperation had been improving and care should be taken that the works in UNECE and Codex standards be complementary and not contradictory. He was of the opinion that terminology in Codex standards must be aligned with the corresponding UNECE text as far as possible.
20. The Delegation of Mexico, supported by the Delegation of Costa Rica, expressed the view that UNECE standards could be used by Codex as a starting point in the elaboration of Codex standards and which would allow for the harmonization of UNECE standards with similar Codex standards. In this regard, the Delegation of Chile pointed out that UNECE standards operated de facto internationally while Codex standards were de jure international standards as mentioned in the reply of the United Nations Legal Counsel at the request of UNECE for their standards to be titled as United Nations Standards.
21. The Representative of the European Community informed the Committee about the activities of the EC in the area of standardization of fresh fruits and vegetables since the last session of the Committee. These activities were described more fully in working document CX/FFV 99/3-Add.1. He also informed the Committee that EC based its standards and regulations on the provisions laid down in the UNECE standards.
