1. The Conference
Agreed that more needed to be done to involve consumers in decisionmaking, both at the national and international levels (para. 30)
Recognized that Codex standards and procedures needed to gain consumer confidence, and that a good way to achieve this would be to include representative views of consumers at national and international levels, using different means relating to different national situations (para. 33), and
Adopted the following Recommendations addressed to Member Governments, and international organizations for these purposes (para. 33)
To Increase Consumer Participation at National Level:
In countries without a developed consumer movement
Governments and international organizations should stimulate consumer awareness of food quality and safety matters, including the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, by giving information via the media, existing relevant organizations and other appropriate fora, and encouraging consumer participation in decision-making. Governments could draw on advice and technical assistance available from the relevant international organizations.
In countries with a developed consumer movement:
Governments should be encouraged to consider setting up a regular consultative procedure (e.g. a national Codex advisory group) in which the representative views of consumers are given equal consideration with the views of producers, industry and trade
To Increase Consumer Participation at International Level:
It should be recognized that consumer representatives in national delegations can be helpful, but that the prime focus should be on regular consultation with consumers when deciding national positions before Codex and related meetings.
Governments should encourage support and funding for consumer experts and representatives to participate in Codex and other food quality and safety work.
Information and Support
FAO/WHO should consider producing short, accessible summaries of Codex issues and discussions for public distribution.
National Codex Contact Points should be given guidelines and support on the best ways to disseminate information to relevant organizations, including consumers' organizations.
2. The Conference:
Agreed that the process of harmonizing national food regulations to bring them into line with international standards and recommendations was an urgent one, which needed to be accelerated (para. 47)
3. The Conference:
Reaffirmed that Codex standards could assist countries in achieving higher levels of exports (para. 53)
4. The Conference:
Welcomed recent action taken by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants to establish a special working group to elaborate in detail a general standard for food additives, and, in particular, called upon governments, in formulating their national input to this work, to maintain close liaison with consumer groups as well as industry (para. 65)
Strongly endorsed the use of a “horizontal” approach as the main strategy for the control of additives in food (para. 61) and
Adopted a Recommendation addressed to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) that it (the CAC) take action to proceed in this manner (para. 61) and further
Adopted a Recommendation addressed to the CAC that it (the CAC) explore the same horizontal approach in other areas, for example, in relation to chemical and microbiological contaminants, and methods of analysis and sampling (para. 62).
5. The Conference:
Agreed that provisions essential for consumer protection (health, safety of food, etc.) should be the focus of emphasis in Codex standards, and although recognizing the importance of such provisions as those relating to styles, types of pack, sizes, defects, etc. agreed that the elaboration of such provisions should be limited to very special circumstances, since they might be capable of creating barriers to trade (paras. 77 and 78)
Recognized, following on the above, the need to develop procedures for the review and possible re-structuring of existing Codex standards (para. 79)
Noted that the Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products had already commenced a review of fish standards (para. 79), and
Agreed to forward the following Recommendations to the CAC for consideration:
The Conference emphasized the importance of Committees focusing their efforts on the elaboration of horizontal provisions in Codex standards as related to consumer protection (i.e. health, safety) and facilitation of international trade. The importance of eliminating detail, where appropriate, was also recognized as a major factor in simplifying standards and facilitating government acceptance of Codex standards. The Conference recommended that these matters be taken up by the Commission. The deliberations of the Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products in this regard should also be taken into account.
As an initial step, it was agreed that for the next session of the Commission existing Codex standards would need to be reviewed, on the basis of a paper to be prepared by the Secretariat, in the light of acceptances and in relation to their importance in international trade, with a view to their simplification. It was noted that government comments should be solicited to facilitate the prioritization of standards needing revision.
6. The Conference agreed to forward the following Recommendations to the CAC for consideration.
Although the Conference recognized the importance of past FAO and WHO initiatives towards assisting developing countries in participating in Codex activities, it urged the Commission to reaffirm the effectiveness of detailed written comments which should be fully considered and discussed at Codex meetings, especially comments from countries not able to be represented at meetings.
The Conference suggested a review of mechanisms to facilitate developing country participation, which might include extra-budgetary resources, pre-session workshops and a possible amendment of Codex Rules of Procedure (Rule XI.4) regarding national delegation financing.
7. The Conference:
Noted the importance of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations in relation to the work of the CAC, in that the draft GATT Agreement would accord a new international status to Codex standards, guidelines and other recommendations on health matters within the terms of the General Agreement, and would mean that GATT Contracting Parties could be required to justify deviations from the health-related components of Codex standards, regardless of a country's position in regard to acceptance (paras. 82, 83 and 84).
8. The Conference:
Strongly supported the proposed modification to the Acceptance Procedure which would enable countries to notify “free distribution” of foods conforming to Codex standards (para. 88).
9. The Conference:
Agreed that there was a need to expedite the elaboration and review of Codex standards and other Codex recommendations (para. 89)
10. The Conference recommended:
Establishing an early review programme to examine all Codex standards as to their current relevance and sound scientific basis, with a view to facilitating international trade. This should include prioritization of standards to be examined.
Ensuring the timeliness of Codex procedures for the establishment and review of standards. Procedures might be required to examine standards on a periodic basis.
Requesting all Codex Committees, as well as JECFA and JMPR, to continue to base their evaluations on suitable scientific principles and to ensure necessary consistency in their risk assessment determinations.
11. The Conference also recommended to the Codex Alimentarius Commission that as quickly as possible it should:
review its acceptance procedures with a view to adoption of a new category of acceptance in the form of positive notification of free distribution of products conforming to Codex standards;
review its other forms of acceptance, especially that of Acceptance with Specified Deviations, to determine if they are still appropriate and necessary;
review its procedures for the elaboration of standards to provide for the elimination of steps 6 and 7, in cases where this was considered necessary or appropriate by a majority of the delegations at Codex committee meetings and confirmed by a two-thirds majority of the delegations at the Commission, in the same manner as currently applied to the adoption procedure for maximum residue limits.
consider the rationalization of its work on commodity-specific standards;
strengthen the horizontal work of its General Subject Committees so that matters of general importance such as labelling, additives, contaminants, and methods of analysis and sampling, would be handled entirely by the General Subject Committee concerned. These Committees would be the main source of direction in these areas and would not be dependent on proposals or provisions put forward by Commodity Committees. This was seen to be necessary if the Commission was to encompass all foods moving in international trade and to provide general guidance.
12. The Conference:
Agreed that, for the time being, there was no need to divide the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants into two separate Codex committees (para. 90)
13. The Conference:
Requested the CAC to re-examine the structure of its Executive Committee to consider whether the Codex Regional Coordinators should be members of the Executive Committee and thus have the right to vote, or, if this was not possible, to better define the functions of Codex Regional Representatives (para. 95)
14. The Conference:
Adopted Recommendations concerning the importance of information on good agricultural practice (GAP) as a factor in increasing acceptances of Codex maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides, which read as follows:
“JMPR should be provided with complete and timely toxicology and residue data. This should include specific GAP information reflecting nationally approved uses.
JMPR and CCPR should make every effort to inform countries about the basis for evaluation, so as to increase the transparency of the process and to take steps to resolve differences in approach which might arise, between CCPR and JMPR and national authorities. This should ultimately lead to more acceptances of Codex MRLs.
GAP information provided to the JMPR should be under constant review and reflect effects on the environment, to the degree that this is possible.
FAO should consider the manner in which assistance could be given to developing countries for the purpose of generating GAP data.”
15. The Conference:
Adopted a Recommendation that governments, FAO and WHO should work to assure proper resources for CAC activities, as well as for JECFA, JMPR and other scientific support expert committees, in line with the priorities established at the Conference (para. 124).
16. The Conference:
Adopted a Recommendation that the CAC and the relevant Codex Committees responsible for the development of standards, codes of practice or guidelines concerned with the protection of human health should make explicit the methods they have used to assess risk (para. 210).
17. The Conference:
Adopted Recommendations to the effect that (i) the activities of JECFA should be enlarged, subject to certain provisos, to cover new food products derived from biotechnology, (ii) the CAC should review such new food products from the point of view of nutrition and labelling, and (iii) the CCFAC should be asked to establish priorities on work on new products to be assigned to JECFA.
18. The Conference recommended that a high priority should be placed on the evaluation by JECFA of migrants from packaging materials and that the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) should allocate priorities for individual substances.
19. The Conference:
Adopted a Recommendation addressed to the CAC asking it (the CAC) to give consideration to the establishment of a committee that would deal with import/export control problems, with the proviso that the committee review the need for its continuing activity after two sessions (para. 192).
Also adopted a Recommendation that the proposed new committee should develop guidelines as opposed to standards (para. 192).
Agreed that the Secretariat should prepare a paper on possible terms of reference for the proposed new committee, for review by the CAC at its July 1991 session. The Chairman stated that the Secretariat would consider the views of the Codex Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean about certification when developing the terms of reference for the proposed new committee (paras. 193 and 196).
20. The Conference:
Recognized that there was a general problem of hygienic production of foods, which was a very important problem from the point of view of public health protection and one which had repercussions on the movement of food in world trade (para. 205).
Adopted a Recommendation addressed to WHO, FAO and the CAC to the effect that they give priority attention to the subject of microbiological contamination of foods and increase their efforts in this area (para. 205).
