World Organization for Animal Health (OIE)81
200. The Director-General of the OIE informed the Commission of the OIE activities relevant to the work of Codex, the recent conclusion of two new mutual agreements with FAO and WHO, the work of the OIE Animal Production Food Safety Working Group, whose membership included several experts having Codex background and from FAO and WHO, the adoption in May 2005 of the Strategic Plan for the period 2006–2010 with emphasis on the development of science-based standards and methods for the prevention, control and eradication of animal diseases. The Representative indicated that the collaboration between the OIE and Codex should continue in the areas such as animal identification and traceability; testing, inspection and certification; prevention of antimicrobial resistance; good farming practice; and, control of salmonellae and other food borne pathogens.
201. The Commission expressed its appreciation for the active participation of OIE in the work of Codex and reiterated its interest for strengthening this cooperation. The importance of close coordination between the OIE and Codex to avoid duplication, gaps and conflicts in the work of the two organizations was stressed.
202. The Commission endorsed the following recommendation of the 55th Session of the Executive Committee related to the collaboration between Codex and OIE82:
82 ALINORM 05/28/3, paras 97–98
OIE be encouraged to continue to participate actively in the standard-setting work of the Commission, namely through the work of relevant subsidiary bodies of the Commission;
OIE be invited to regularly submit, to relevant Codex subsidiary bodies, reports on its activities relevant to the work of these subsidiary bodies, while these subsidiary bodies continue to seek ways to improve cooperation with OIE in their respective area of work and inform the Executive Committee of their decisions/recommendations accordingly; and
OIE be invited to submit a summary report to the regular sessions of the Commission on its activities of relevance to the work of the Commission, including the outcome of the OIE Working Group on Animal Production Food Safety.
203. The Commission also noted the recommendation of the Executive Committee that the effectiveness of cooperative arrangements being made between Codex and OIE as above should be reviewed by the 30th Session of the Commission (2007) with a view to considering if further arrangements would be necessary or desirable, including those provisions mentioned in paragraph 13 of the Draft Guidelines.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)83
204. The Representative of the IAEA informed the Commission of the activities of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture relevant to the work of Codex. These activities included development of preparedness and response to nuclear emergencies affecting agriculture as well as collaborative efforts with the Codex Committees, particularly the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants in the elaboration of the revised Codex Guideline Levels for Radionuclides.
World Trade Organization (WTO)84
205. The Representative of the WTO drew the attention of the Commission to its written submission and provided an update of activities arising from the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Committee), including the review of the SPS Agreement, continuing cooperation with Codex, IPPC and OIE, discussion on special and differential treatment as well as examples of recent trade concerns and disputes settlement cases. The Representative also informed the Commission of WTO technical assistance activities, including those provided under the framework of the Standards and Trade Development Facility (STDF) aimed at assisting in the implementation of international standards by developing country members.
206. Some delegations stressed the need for establishing mechanisms to strengthen communication between Codex and WTO for matters covered by both the SPS Agreement and the Agreement on Technical Barrier to Trade (TBT). In this regard, it was noted that the Codex Secretariat was regularly representing the Commission in both the SPS and TBT Committee meetings and cooperating with WTO in training activities at the regional level. The Representative of WTO, in turn, was attending key Codex session as an observer. The issues of how to monitor the use of Codex standards by countries was identified as an area requiring further study.
207. In accordance with Article 6 of the Principles Concerning the Participation of International Non-Governmental Organizations in the Work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Secretary reported to the Commission on cooperation with NGOs, as presented in ALINORM 05/28/9E and in CAC/28 INF/1.
208. The Delegation of the United Kingdom, speaking on behalf of the Member States of the European Community, expressed their support for the Bureau européen des unions de consommateurs (BEUC) to gain observer status.
Relations with International Organization for Standardization (ISO)85
85 CAC/INF 2 (Communication from ISO - Report of Activities Relevant to Codex).
209. The Commission was informed that in accordance with the decisions of the Executive Committee and the Commission, contacts for information exchange were maintained between the Codex Secretariat and ISO, and that detailed information on ISO activities was presented in CAC/28 INF/ 2.
210. The Observer from ISO informed the Commission that the recently adopted ISO Strategic Plan 20052010, Objectives 4 and 5, called for increased collaboration between ISO and intergovernmental standard setting bodies such as Codex. The Observer highlighted the work of ISO in relevant areas, especially Technical Committee 34 (Food products), including three items of relevance to Codex: food irradiation (ISO/AWI 22810), traceability in feed and food chain (ISO/CD 22519), and food safety management systems (ISO/DIS 22000). In addition, ISO developed generic horizontal standards to document agreed procedures for the assessment of conformity that could be relevant to the work of the CCFICS. ISO had also developed an action plan for developing countries and carried out technical cooperation activities with UNIDO and ITC. The Observer pointed out that Codex and ISO activities were complementary and looked forward to continued cooperation with the Commission.
211. Several delegation stressed the importance of ISO work to provide standards that could be used at the national level and supported further cooperation with ISO in relevant areas of work.
212. The Delegation of the United States, supported by other delegations, expressed its concerns with the possible duplication of work or the development of contradictory standards between ISO and Codex and proposed that relevant Codex Committees monitor the work of ISO in their respective areas of work, in order to optimise the use of resources and avoid duplication.
213. The Commission supported continued cooperation and coordination with ISO and agreed that the Codex Secretariat should maintain its contacts with ISO and report regularly to the Commission on ISO activities of relevance to Codex work.
