235. The Committee recalled that the last session had been able to only briefly discuss other legitimate factors, following the request from the Committee on General Principles, and had agreed that the Delegation of Australia in collaboration with other delegations would prepare a discussion paper for consideration by the 33rd Session.
236. The Delegation of Australia, while introducing the document, indicated that all factors relevant to risk assessment and risk management had been considered, except those related to the scientific evaluation performed by JMPR insofar as they were relevant to risk analysis, in order to facilitate the debate. The Delegation noted that, for clarification purposes, the paper also mentioned the factors which were not taken into account by the Committee.
237. The Secretariat recalled the current status of discussions in the CCGP and other committees, with a reference to the “other factors” which had been considered in relation to risk management. The Committee noted that the next session of the CCGP would consider a document proposing a number of criteria for the consideration of other factors in relation to risk management[20].
238. The Observer from CI expressed the view that other factors were an important aspect of risk management decisions, and should be considered further as they were currently used in the work of the Committee. These factors should be considered in the wider context of risk analysis, in order to clarify the rationale for policy decisions which had an impact on health protection to ensure the scientific integrity of decision making and to make the process generally more transparent, efficient and consistent.
239. The Delegation of the Netherlands supported this view and indicated that in the light of the working documents and earlier discussions, it would be useful to consider the different steps of risk assessment and risk management followed in MRL setting from a broader perspective.
240. The Chairman recalled the importance of clarifying the use of other legitimate factors and risk analysis in the Committee and in the wider framework of Codex, and indicated that it might be useful to consider further the relationship between risk assessment and risk management in the future. However it was preferable to defer discussion in this area until further progress had been achieved in the CCGP and Codex. The Commission could provide general orientation to Codex committees concerning the role of other factors and the application of risk analysis principles in the decision process. The Chairman while referring to Agenda Item 5 indicated that the approach to these issues should be more concrete and focus on actual problems faced by the Committee. The Committee generally concurred with this approach.
