Regional Workshop on “Proposal for Codex New Work: Criteria and Structure”

Technical food standard officials from ten Asian countries will gather in Tokyo to attend the regional workshop on “Proposal for Codex New Work: Criteria and Structure”. The workshop is jointly organized by the FAO Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, under the FAO Regional project “Enhancing Capacity in Codex for Effective Participation and Contribution of Selected Countries in Asia,” in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), Japan.

Codex is an inter-governmental and member driven organization requiring strong support from its Member Nations. In the Codex standard-setting procedure, a new Codex standard or a revision of existing Codex standard begins with the development of a discussion paper. Any delegation (member or observer) may submit discussion papers to a relevant Codex subsidiary body or the Commission, if there is no relevant Codex subsidiary body, for consideration. 

The Commission decides whether to develop/revise a standard based on a critical review of the project document by the Executive Committee. “Criteria for the Establishment of Work Priorities” exists to assist the Commission or Executive Committee in their decision-making and in selecting the subsidiary body to be responsible for steering the standard through its development. If necessary, a new subsidiary body – usually a specialized task force – may be created.

This workshop will focus on capacity building on developing the discussion paper and project document for new work.

The objectives of the workshop are to:

• Enhance understanding of the structure of a project document;
• Enhance understanding of the criteria for establishment of work priorities;
• Recognize key issues to be considered for proposing the new work; and
• Share countries’ experience on the development of discussion paper/project document.