PART IV

Finance of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme for 1970/71 and 1972/73

23. The Commission had before it ALINORM 71/7 containing details of the budget for 1970/71 as approved by the governing bodies of FAO and WHO and estimates for 1972/73 which were still subject to approval by the governing bodies of both Organizations. ALINORM 71/7 also contained details of the estimated expenditure in 1970 and the estimated balance available for 1971. It was noted that the estimated balances available in 1971 in respect of (i) salaries and common staff costs, (ii) travel and (iii) meetings would be adequate to meet commitments but that there would be a significant shortfall in respect of external printing and translation of Codex documents. The shortfall was mainly the result of the need to publish in 1970 an accumulated number of Recommended Codex Standards.

24. Economy measures had been introduced to restrict the Programme's requirements concerning internal printing to within its biennal allocation. In spite of this, the Programme would be faced with an estimated shortfall of printing and translation requirements estimated to cost $ 15,240 for the remainder of the biennium. As it would not be possible for the Programme to exceed its approved budgetary allocations, the only means open to it to deal with the estimated shortfall would be postponment until early 1972 of the publication of Step 8 standards adopted by the Commission at its current session.

25. Account of the publication situation had been taken by FAO and WHO and a programme increase in respect of documents had been included in the 1972/73 budgetary estimates. Concerning the other items in the 1972/73 estimates for the Programme, the Commission noted that there would be no increase in the numbers of professional and general service staff, nor in the provisions for duty travel and for meetings. The main increase in the budgetary estimates of the Programme for 1972/73 was attributable to increased costs. These increases were the result of cost-of-living and pay awards common to the UN service or peculiar to Rome duty station.

26. The Commission further noted that the proposed estimates for 1972/73 had been drawn up on the basis of the proposed number of meetings contained in the schedule of meetings in ALINORM 71/28, the costs of which are borne by the budget of the Programme. The Commission noted that the proposed budgetary estimates were still subject to approval by the governing bodies of both Organizations. The Commission also noted that FAO was proposing to make available the same amount of staff translation and internal printing in 1972/73 as had been made available in the current biennium. However, owing to increases in the rates chargeable for translation and printing, the actual cost would be significantly more than in the current biennium.

27. The delegate of Argentina preferred to express his views on the budget estimates for 1972/73 after the Commission's deliberations on the question of the use of the Spanish language in Codex Committees.

28. The Commission noted that the Director-General of FAO proposed, subject to agreement with WHO, to change the status of the Recommended Codex Standards for which there had been no charge, from main documents, to priced publications. This change of status would apply to Step 9 and Step 10 standards only. Under the proposed new arrangements, governments would continue to receive a free quota of Recommended Codex Standards and Codex Standards but the quota would be in accordance with the formula for the distribution of priced publications adopted by the 12th FAO Conference in 1963. The Commission noted that further details on this subject were contained in paragraphs 13–15 of the Report of the 17th Session of the Executive Committee (see Appendix II to this Report).

29. The Commission noted that all the Recommended Codex Standards published at Step 9 bore copyright of FAO and WHO. The Commission was informed that the Organizations had done this as a precaution in order to ensure that, as and when requests to waive copyright were received, the Organizations would be in a position to insist on a statement in the preamble to any publication or translation of the texts into languages other than the official ones to the effect that the authentic and official texts were those published by FAO and WHO in English, French and Spanish.