247. The Commission again considered the Idea of a General Standard which had been before it at its Seventh Session (paragraphs 132 – 135 of the report). The Commission had before it ALINORM 71/27 which contained a report prepared by the Secretariat in association with the United Kingdom.
248. The delegate of the United Kingdom referred to the work previously done on the subject by members of the Commission and in particular to the nature and extent of Government comments. The United Kingdom suggested that the detailed drafting of suitable provisions needed to be considered at the next Session of the Commission, perhaps in a Working Group, especially if there was not to be a session of the Committee on General Principles in the near future. The Commission should, in any event, try to decide at its next Session whether a text should form part of a General Standard or should be otherwise included in the Codex, e.g. as a statement in the General Principles. Alternatively, the Commission could, at the proper time, and on the advice of the Executive Committee, consider referring the matter to the Codex Committee on General Principles.
249. In order to facilitate progress the United Kingdom offered to circulate a working paper for consideration by Governments. The Commission agreed to the proposed course of action; meanwhile the status quo would be maintained in regard to the text included in ALINORM 71/27.
250. The Commission considered the proposed provisional timetable of codex sessions for 1972-75 which had been drawn up by the Secretariat in response to the request of the Commission at its Seventh Session. The Commission noted the observations of the Executive Committee on the proposed timetable as set out in paragraphs 24–25 of document ALINORM 71/4.
251. The Commission noted that sessions for a number of subsidiary bodies of the Commission had not been included in the proposed timetable on the assumption that their current work programme might be completed in the near future. A Committee possibly falling in this category was the Codex Committee on Cocoa Products and Chocolate. The Commission noted that no session of the Coordinating Committee for Europe had been scheduled prior to July 1974. This was purely a tentative proposal dependent upon arrangements to be made with the new Coordinator to be appointed at the Ninth Session of the Commission.
252. The delegates of Austria and Poland expressed the view that as far as possible the Coordinating Committee for Europe should meet on an annual basis. The delegate of Canada, supported by other delegates, expressed the view that some reduction in the frequency of the meetings of the committee on Milk and Milk Products and of the Group of Experts on Fruit Juices might be contemplated in the biennium 1973-74. The delegate of Canada proposed that there should only be one session of each of these Committees in the biennium.
253. The Commission further noted that no session of the Codex Committee on General Principles had been foreseen in the proposed timetable, on the understanding that when there was a need for a session of the Committee to be held, the Secretariat would approach the French Government with a request to convene the Committee.
254. The delegate of Nigeria stated that in the light of the discussions on the food standards needs for Africa, the Secretariat would have to bear in mind arrangements in 1974-75 for the scheduling of sessions of a Coordinating Committee for Africa, should it be established. The delegate of the U.S.A. drew attention to the observation of the Executive Committee in paragraph 25 of the Report of its Seventeenth Session that “the intervals between sessions of the Commission should be such as to enable the Commission to survey satisfactorily the progress of its subsidiary bodies and to finalize standards.” The U.S. delegate was of the opinion, therefore, that there were strong arguments in favour of the Commission continuing on a more or less annual basis, and that this should be regarded as the normal procedure to be departed from only in the light of exceptional circumstances such as considerations of budget or workload of the Commission.
255. The Commission approved in principle and in the light of the recommendations of the Executive Committee the proposed timetable and frequency of Codex sessions from 1972 to 1975, subject to any modifications which the secretariat might have to make in consultation with the host Governments of Codex Committees.
256. The Commission, at its Seventh Session, requested the Directors-General of FAO and WHO to write to the governments which had undertaken the responsibility for hosting Codex Committees, stressing the particular importance of at least providing simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, as well as in the other two languages of the Commission (English and French), and other facilities as far as possible, at Codex Committee sessions. The replies on this subject received from host governments were contained in documents ALINORM 71/9 and ALINORM 71/9-Add.1. It was noted that the host governments were sympathetic to the wishes of the Spanish-speaking countries but that most host governments had drawn attention to the practical as well as the financial difficulties in the way of giving effect to the wishes of the Spanish-speaking countries. Switzerland, Canada and the United Kingdom had indicated their readiness to provide facilities in Spanish in addition to the existing language facilities, but the offer of Canada which hosts the Codex Committee on Food Labelling, was subject to approval by the Treasury Board in Canada. It was noted that Switzerland was prepared to provide simultaneous interpretation into and from Spanish provided that a minimum of two delegations from Spanish-speaking countries had expressed their intention of attending a given session of the Committee. In order to allow sufficient time for the recruitment of interpreters, Switzerland requested that Spanish-speaking countries give notice two months in advance of the session that it was their intention to send delegations. In the United Kingdom it had been the practice to provide simultaneous interpretation into Spanish at meetings of the Codex Committees on Sugars and Fats and Oils if requests were received from Spanish-speaking countries. The United Kingdom had confirmed in principle that this practice would be continued and that, as before, the expenses would be met by the United Kingdom. While the United Kingdom considered that the provision of facilities in Spanish should be left to the discretion of each host government, the United Kingdom had indicated that it would be willing to provide simultaneous interpretation in Spanish but could not undertake to provide a Spanish version of the draft reports of Committee sessions which it hosted.
257. During the course of the discussions the delegate of Argentina placed before the Commission a memorandum in regard to the use of the Spanish language in Codex Committees, which is contained in Appendix III to this Report. This memorandum was supported by the Spanish-speaking delegates and by the delegate of Brazil, but the delegates of some host countries found difficulty in accepting the memorandum. These delegates stressed that the Rules of Procedure obliged host countries to provide facilities in at least two working languages of the Commission and that any additional obligation in this respect would be tantamount to seeking a change in Rule XII.4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission. The delegates of some host countries drew attention to the fact that certain facilities in Spanish had been provided by them in the last year on an ad hoc basis at meetings of Committees for which they acted as hosts.
258. During the course of the session the Commission set up a small working group to consider the subject further and report to the Commission. The working group, which was presided over by the Chairman of the Commission, consisted of members of the delegations of Argentina, Denmark, Ireland, the U.S.A. and the United Kingdom. The recommendation of the working group is set out hereunder:
“Use of the Spanish language in Codex Committees
The Commission noted the progress being made and expressed its confidence that host countries would facilitate to the fullest possible extent the introduction of the Spanish language in all those Committees which do not yet use that language and where, according to available information, participation of Spanish-speaking delegations is foreseen; in particular, the Commission invites those host countries to endeavour to ensure simultaneous interpretation facilities in Spanish.
The Commission asks the Directors-General of FAO and WHO, as far as both interpretation and translation are concerned, to assist host countries, more particularly those countries, the national language of which is not one of the working languages.
The Commission requests in particular the Secretariat to provide in due course for the translation into Spanish, the printing and the distribution to Spanish-speaking countries of all “proposed draft standards” and “draft standards” which have to be examined by those Committees for which Spanish written working papers would not otherwise be available.
The Commission invites the Executive Committee to follow up the progress made along these lines.”
259. The above recommendation was approved by the Commission except that the delegates of the Netherlands and Norway reserved their position and drew the attention of the Commission to the replies of their governments reproduced in ALINORM 71/9.
260. The delegate of Argentina recalled that in the working group established by the Chairman he had stated that he could only accept the agreed text on the basis of a decision unanimously adopted by the Commission, as he considered that the above text did not meet fully the just request of the Spanish-speaking countries, particularly concerning simultaneous interpretation into Spanish. Consequently, as a result of the reservations made by the delegates of Norway and the Netherlands, the delegate of Argentina stated that, while recognizing the progress which the above text implied concerning the translation of documents, he regretted that he was obliged to withdraw his support for the above text and he reserved to himself the possibility of any other further action on the subject.
OTHER BUSINESS
261. The delegate of India referred to paragraphs 216-227 of the Report of the Seventh Session of the Commission (ALINORM 70/43) and enquired what was the latest position regarding the subjects for which the Secretariat had been requested to undertake background studies. The Commission noted that a paper “Coffee and the Consumer. Standards and Regulations” was being finalized by the Secretariat in the light of government comments and that this study could probably be submitted to the Commission at its Ninth Session. A work had been commenced on the studies concerning pulses and cereals and information on other stimulant beverages was being collected. The Commission agreed that these studies should be presented to the Commission as and when the Executive Committee considered it appropriate. The delegate of India also referred to the subject of condiments and spices. The Commission noted that the Secretariat was awaiting the finalization of work by ISO in this field.
