243. The Commission confirmed the designation of Host Governments as listed in Appendix IX. It confirmed the dissolution of the ad hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Food Derived from Biotechnology which had completed its work and congratulated Japan for the extraordinary work accomplished.
244. It noted the suggestion of the Delegation of Japan to explore if any countries, preferably in Asia, Africa and South America regions, would be interested in hosting Codex Committees adjourned sine die in view of a better sharing of responsibilities among Codex Member Countries. This would lead to an increased participation and would facilitate capacity building of developing countries in Codex. The Commission noted that this could be taken into account during the review of Codex Committee structures and mandates (see para. 154).
OTHER BUSINESS (Agenda Item 19)
Proposal for Risk Analysis on Substances with No ADI and /or MRL[112]
245. The Delegation of Thailand informed the Commission of difficulties in international trade, particularly for developing countries, arising from the presence of residues of substances for which, for reasons other than safety, there is no ADI and/or MRL and proposed that the Commission recommend that a Joint FAO/WHO Consultation should be convened with the following objectives:
To study the lessons learnt from interruption of trade caused by the presence of traces of certain veterinary drugs.
To analyze the scientific and regulatory questions that are not answered in the current JECFA/Codex set up.
To recommend actions and follow-up to Codex, FAO and WHO.
246. The Delegation of India drew the attention of the Commission to the report of the Coordinating Committee for Asia[113] which had discussed the problems for developing countries arising from continuous changes in methods of analysis resulting in lowered limits of detection and provided two examples of the difficulties: the testing of antibiotic residues and the limits applied to nitrofurans in egg products.
247. The Commission was informed that FAO was proposing to convene two meetings to discuss the issue in consultation with its partners (WHO and OIE), the exact nature of the meetings being subject to discussion:
a) to examine regulatory issues, including zero tolerance and de minimis limits; and
b) a scientific inquiry into risks associated with substances at the limit of detection or de minimis levels.
248. It was proposed that both meetings would be funded from external resources and be held in late 2003 or early 2004.
249. The Commission noted that the work proposed by Thailand would be followed up and the proposed FAO technical consultations (and possibly and expert consultation) will provide advice to Codex on this issue. The examples raised by India would be forwarded as case studies for the consultations.
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[111] ALINORM 03/26/17.
[112] CAC/26 LIM.14. [113] ALINORM 03/15. |
