Chairperson's Action Plan
5. Mr. Thomas J. Billy, Administrator, Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA, and
Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, introduced the Chairperson's Action Plan. He indicated that as Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) he would promote initiatives in the following major areas in order to progress the work of Codex:
· Increasing the efficiency of the Codex process by holding CAC meetings every year, forming a new committee consisting of the Chairperson and Vice-Chairpersons of the CAC, Chairpersons of the Codex Committees and the Codex Secretariat to assist the Chairperson and the Secretariat at the Commission's meetings; and converting the commodity committees to task forces with sunset provisions;6. Mr Billy informed the Committee that the Action Plan, when finalized, would be sent to Member Governments for their input and be placed on the Provisional Agenda of the Executive Committee in 2001.· further strengthening scientific support in the decision-making process by restructuring the scientific expert bodies and developing clear guidelines for their work;
· increasing the participation of developing countries by establishing a trust fund and by regularly holding Codex meetings in developing countries;
· increasing transparency and the participation of NGO's;
· increasing total support to Codex by the parent organizations by encouraging the World Health Organization (WHO) to match the level of support provided by FAO;
· increasing the use of new technologies, such as Internet web casts, home pages and chat rooms, in order to improve communication and support for Codex.
7. The Committee unanimously supported the draft Action Plan, especially the idea of encouraging and supporting the increased participation of developing countries through the establishment of trust fund well managed by FAO and WHO.
8. The Committee noted general matters of interest arising from the 23rd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), the 47th Session of the Executive Committee and the 14th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles.
Pesticide Residues in Fish
9. The Committee had been reminded that during the last Session of the CCAFRICA some delegations expressed their concern regarding the existence of barriers to trade in fish between their countries and the European Union and that it had requested the Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) to consider the problem of pesticide residues with a view to establishing EMRL's for fish. The Committee noted the reply from the CCPR[3] that it was not in a position to take any action on that until the relevant data were submitted. However some delegations indicated that there had been some developments in this area in the interim and that it was possible now to submit the relevant data.
Pan-African Conference on Food Safety and Quality
10. The Committee noted that a similar conference is being organized in Europe and supported the possibility of convening a Pan-African Conference on Food Safety and Quality in the near future. The Observer from Consumers International requested that "food security" be also included.
Volume of International Trade in Bitter Cassava
11. The Committee noted the request of the Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables (CCPFV) regarding the international trade in bitter cassava. It was indicated that bitter cassava was not consumed raw and that there was international trade between African countries of processed bitter cassava without any evident risk to consumers to date. However, it was unable to provide exact figures in trade at this time. The Committee invited Member countries to report those figures to the CCPFV or to the Codex Secretariat in Rome.
