13. The Commission had before it a list of Members of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The membership as at 9 July 1971 is set out below. The Commission noted that since its last session membership had increased from 75 to 89 countries.
Europe
North America
Latin America
Africa
South-West Pacific
Asia
14. The Commission took note of the contents of ALINORM 71/6 setting out the positions of 13 countries (Argentina, Bolivia, China, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Israel, Liberia, Monaco, Philippines, Portugal, U.S.S.R. and U.S.A.) with respect to the acceptance of the four Recommended Codex Standards (General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods, Standard for Canned Pacific Salmon, European Regional Standard for Honey 1 and the First Series of International Tolerances for Pesticide Residues) which had been sent to governments for acceptance shortly after the 7th Session of the Commission. In addition to the information contained in this document, the Commission noted that China had further indicated that in the case of the Recommended International Tolerances for Pesticide Residues it would be the intention of China to pass from target acceptance to full acceptance in 1973. The Commission also noted the statement of the delegate of Portugal that Portugal had now given full acceptance to all four recommended standards.
15. The Chairman expressed the special satisfaction of the Commission at the fact that the Government of Argentina, after having given acceptance to the first four Recommended Codex Standards referred to in paragraph 14 above, had additionally accepted a considerable number of the second series of Recommended Codex Standards which had recently been sent to governments for acceptance.
16. The delegate of Mexico recalled that during the 7th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the Mexican delegate had requested one year at least to consider possible acceptance of the European Regional Standard for Honey. The Mexican delegate informed the Commission that the study of Mexican honey in relation to the standard was giving favourable results. On the basis of the conclusions of the analysis of the whole study of the final results, Mexico would indicate in due course its position on this standard. This, of course, would be subject to a precise interpretation of the procedure for acceptance as outlined in the General Principles of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which in the opinion of the delegation was of vital importance for all the activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
17. The delegate of Kuwait expressed the keen interest of the Government of Kuwait in the work of the Commission in elaborating international food standards and stressed the special importance which the Government of Kuwait attached to the subject of food hygiene.
18. The delegate of Nigeria also expressed the interest which the Government of Nigeria had in the work of the Commission. The delegate of Nigeria drew attention to the fact that there were some difficulties in connection with the acceptance of Recommended Codex Standards. These difficulties were mainly due to the inadequate facilities for ensuring compliance with the standards. Also, most of the food commodities being standardized by the Commission could not be regarded as staple products in Nigeria, although many of the products covered by the standards were in fact imported into Nigeria. The delegate of Nigeria also drew attention to the fact that in Nigeria modern basic food legislation was still only being developed and systematic arrangements for dealing with Codex matters had not yet been finalized. The delegate of Nigeria thought that these difficulties would be overcome in due course, but laid great stress on the need to create proper facilities (laboratory facilities, control services, training of personnel, etc.) and in this connection expressed the hope that FAO/WHO would be in a position to provide assistance.
19. The representative of WHO stated that FAO/WHO had received requests to assist in the setting up of control services and laboratory facilities, and that consideration was being given to the possibility of making available the services of consultants for the purpose of advising developing countries in these matters. Attention was also drawn to the possibility of WHO fellowships being made available to personnel from the developing countries for training abroad and to the possibility of arranging special training courses for such persons.
1 See also remarks of the delegate of New Zealand in paragraph 42 of this Report.
20. The delegate of the United Arab Republic also expressed the interest of his Government in the work of the Commission and stressed the desirability of making important Codex documents available in Arabic. The position concerning the use of Arabic in FAO and in WHO was explained by the legal advisers of both Organizations. The Chairman suggested that those countries interested in having the most important documents of the Codex available in Arabic might wish to present agreed proposals to the Commission's Secretariat, indicating the documents which they would like to have in Arabic. The Secretariat would then arrange for this matter to be examined by FAO and WHO.
21. In considering likely future developments with regard to acceptances of recommended Codex standards, the Commission took note of the recommendations of the 17th Session of the Executive Committee. The Commission agreed with the recommendations of the Executive Committee that Member Governments be requested to make available to the Secretariat prior to each session of the Commission information on the status of acceptances or other action taken on each Step 9 standard in respect of which a final reply had not yet been made by the Member Government concerned. The Commission also agreed that, in line with the idea of making as much information as possible available to Member Governments regarding action taken in individual countries having a bearing on acceptances of Recommended Codex standards, it would be useful if legislative material and studies related to Recommended Codex standards were made available to Member Governments by the Secretariat acting in cooperation with the Legislation Branches of FAO and WHO.
22. The Commission also agreed with the proposal of the Executive Committee that the task of reviewing replies of Member Governments on Acceptances of each Recommended Codex standard might best be entrusted to the Executive Committee, which would, when timely and appropriate, recommend action by the Commission or other steps such as referral to the appropriate Codex Committees. The Commission also agreed that the Executive Committee should advise the Commission whether in its view a given Recommended Codex Standard should be published in the Codex Alimentarius. The Commission agreed that in view of the very limited experience of acceptances so far, the above arrangements should be regarded as being of a tentative and experimental nature. The Commission recognized that at a later stage, in the light of experience, it might be desirable to refer to some aspects of the above matters to the Codex Committee on General Principles, since it was that Committee which had elaborated the various methods of acceptance of Codex Standards.
