RELATIONS BETWEEN CODEX COMMODITY COMMITTEES AND CODEX GENERAL SUBJECT COMMITTEES
113. The Delegation of Switzerland requested that the Committee review the working relationships between the Codex Commodity Committees and the Codex General Subject Committees in order to avoid confusion between their roles when specific provisions were to be included in Codex commodity standards and general standards. The Secretariat recalled that the Section in the Procedural Manual dealing with the relationships between the general subject and commodity committees had recently been revised to take into account the Commission's priority of elaborating general standards that covered all foods wherever possible. The Section established clearly the working relations between these two groups of committees and the detailed arrangements to be followed.
114. It was noted that a special case might exist in the case of food additives and contaminants, where the provisions of individual standards following endorsement by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, were to be incorporated into the corresponding general standards. Until recently however, the General Standards for Food Additives had been in the formative phase and as a result there had been incomplete or overlapping information in relation to the Codex-approved use of additives. It was proposed by the Secretariat that a paper be prepared for consideration the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants that would lead to complete integration at the earliest possible opportunity of all food additives provisions in Codex standards into the general standard. Depending on the outcome of this exercise, there may or may not be a need to review the corresponding Section of the Procedural Manual.
APPLICATION OF RISK ANALYSIS IN THE ELABORATION OF CODEX STANDARDS AND CODES BY DIFFERENT COMMITTEES
115. The Delegation of India recalled that the Commission at its 23rd Session had confirmed that the elaboration of Codex standards and related texts should be based on risk analysis. It requested the Committee to consider how the principles of risk analysis should be applied at various stages of the elaboration process. In particular, the Delegation drew attention to the development of certain Codes of Hygienic Practice under consideration by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene at Step 3. The Delegation also drew attention to the consideration of Aflatoxin M1 in milk and the provisions for Lead (Pb) in various foods by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants where, in the opinion of the Delegation, the measures proposed were not consistent with the current JECFA risk assessments and yet advanced to the further step. The Delegation proposed that the Committee in future should consider how risk assessment would be applied to proposals for standards or related texts that were currently being considered by Committees or submitted to the Commission for adoption.
DATE AND PLACE OF NEXT SESSION
116. The Committee was informed that the 16th Session of the Committee would be held in Paris in April 2001. In view of the proposal to convene a Working Group if necessary for drafting the section dealing with precaution in the Proposed Draft Principles of Risk Analysis, the precise dates would be confirmed at a later time.
SUMMARY STATUS OF WORK
|
Subject Matter |
Step |
Action by |
Reference in |
|
Proposed Amendment of Rule VI.4 |
|
Governments |
para. 73 |
|
Working Principles for Risk Analysis |
3 |
Governments |
para. 62 |
|
Proposed Draft Revised Code of Ethics for International Trade
in Foods |
3 |
Governments |
para. 108 |
|
Consumer participation |
|
Secretariat |
para. 110 |
|
Practical measures to facilitate consensus |
|
24th CAC |
paras. 68-69 |
|
Composition of the Executive Committee and related
matters |
|
Secretariat |
|
|
Role of science and other factors in relation to risk
analysis |
|
Secretariat |
para. 95 |
|
Relationship between commodity committees and CCFAC |
|
Secretariat |
para. 115 |
