84. The Committee recalled that the last session had discussed a document on the role of other legitimate factors, taking into account the discussions held in several relevant Committees on this issue. The Committee had agreed that it should consider criteria providing general guidance on the use of such factors in the framework of Codex, and that the Secretariat would prepare a revised document for this purpose. The 47th Session of the Executive Committee had confirmed that the CCGP was responsible for the development of general guidance at the request of the Commission and that no further action was required at this stage from other committees.
85. The Committee considered the revised draft criteria and made the following amendments.
86. In the first indent, the Committee agreed that reference should be made to all Statements of Principle Concerning the Role of Science (instead of the first Statement only).
87. In the second indent, the Committee agreed that the development of standards and related texts should be mentioned to clarify the outcome of risk management options in the framework of Codex.
88. In the third indent, the Committee discussed the need for a specific reference to interaction between risk assessment and risk management. However, the Committee agreed to retain the current text as interaction was addressed in the 4th Statement of Principles Relating to the Role of Food Safety Risk Assessment.
89. The Committee discussed whether the distinction between justification of national measures under the SPS and TBT Agreement should be reflected in the text of the fourth indent. Some delegations expressed the view that it was superfluous and also proposed to delete the entire paragraph. Other delegations supported its inclusion as it was essential to clarify the difference between the factors that could be taken into account within Codex and at the national level. The Committee agreed with the suggestion of the Representative of WTO to put the first sentence in a footnote as it might be useful for clarification purposes, and retained the current text of the second sentence. The Delegation of Thailand requested the inclusion of an amendment to encourage the harmonization of food standards.
90. In the fifth indent, the Committee agreed that other factors could be accepted on a regional basis in the case of regional standards and related texts, and amended the text accordingly.
91. In the sixth indent, a minor change was made to clarify that specific consideration of other factors in the development of risk management recommendations should be clearly documented, whether such factors had an influence on the final decisions or not. The Committee also agreed that other factors should be considered in the decision process on a case by case basis.
92. The Committee considered in detail the 7th indent referring to health concerns related to the environment. The Delegation of Sweden, speaking on behalf of the EC, proposed to recommend that "concerns relating to the environment, animal and plant health and animal welfare" might be taken into account "if international requirements or recommendations of the competent international fora" existed. This proposal was supported by other delegations outside the European Union and the Observer from IACFO. The Delegation of the Netherlands pointed out that linkages with the work of other international organizations and consistency with international agreements was essential to ensure credibility of international harmonization.
93. Several other delegations opposed this amendment as it was not consistent with the Statements of Principle, and the deletion of the reference to health would introduce considerations that were excluded from the mandate of Codex; these delegations expressed their concern that such amendments would not improve consumer health protection but would be likely to create additional barriers to trade. Other delegations supported the deletion of this paragraph as its lack of clarity created confusion.
94. The Committee could not come to a consensus on the specific factors that should be mentioned in the text and recognized that a general reference to international agreements might be more generally acceptable. The Committee also agreed with the proposal of the Delegation of Canada to clarify the nature of the international recommendations and organizations concerned.
95. After an exchange of views the Committee considered a compromise proposal to the effect that "certain factors may be taken into account if recommendations of relevant multilateral intergovernmental organizations exist".
96. The Delegation of Argentina indicated that it could accept this text provided the factors were described as "relevant for the health protection of consumers and for the promotion of fair practices in food trade" as specified in the Statement of Principle. This proposal was supported by several delegations.
97. The Delegation of the United States expressed the view that Codex standards should avoid having a negative impact on the application on international agreements or recommendations. The Committee recognized that this important concept should be addressed, in view of the need for coordination between international organizations, and included an additional sentence to this effect in the paragraph.
98. The Delegation of Australia, supported by other delegations, stated that as there were clearly concerns about the application of this paragraph, it should be deleted in order for the remainder of the document to be advanced. The Delegation proposed that in view of the important issues covered in this paragraph, the relationship between Codex and other multilateral intergovernmental orgnizations should be considered as a separate issue. Several delegations, although they had no specific opposition to the revised paragraph, proposed to discuss it further at the next session. The Committee could not come to a consensus on the text of the seventh indent and agreed to put it in square brackets for consideration by the Commission together with the other criteria.
99. The Committee retained the eighth indent addressing the constraints of developing countries with slight editorial changes for clarification purposes.
100. In the ninth indent concerning barriers to trade, the Delegation of Argentina, supported by several delegations, proposed to include a reference to WTO principles and to the provisions of the SPS and TBT Agreements. Other delegations pointed out that such a reference was not necessary since the obligations of member countries were defined under WTO and should not be repeated in a Codex text. After some discussion it was agreed to put this proposal in square brackets also for further consideration.
101. Some delegations proposed to retain the current reference to generally accepted scientific evidence as a basis for decision in Codex, even when no specific international agreement existed. This question was not discussed and the current text was deleted.
102. The Committee agreed to forward the Proposed Criteria to the Commission and requested the Commission to resolve the issues mentioned in the two sections remaining in square brackets. The Committee recommended that the criteria be included in the Procedural Manual as an explanation of the Statements of Principle (see Appendix III).
