WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/6 
5 April 2004  
 
(04-1522) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
AGENDA ITEM 6(B):  UPDATING BY OBSERVERS 
 
Information provided by the Codex Alimentarius Commission at the 
 
TBT Committee Meeting of 23 March 2004  
 
 
1. Codex Sessions since the last Meeting of the TBT Committee (07/11/2003) 
 
(a) The 19th Session Committee on General Principles (Special Session) (Paris, France, 
17-21 November 2003). 
(b) The 12th Session of Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems (Brisbane, Australia, 1-5 December 2003). 
(c) The 53rd Session Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission 
(Geneva, Switzerland, 4-6 February 2004). 
(d) The 10th Session of Codex Committee on Meat Hygiene (Auckland, New Zealand, 
16-20 February 2004). 
(e) The 25th Session Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (Budapest, 
Hungary, 7-14 March 2004). 
1. The special (19th) session of the Codex Committee on General Principles has considered 
rules to implement some of the recommendations of the Joint FAO/WHO Evaluation of the Codex 
Alimentarius.  
2. In particular, the Committee has agreed to forward to the 27th Session of the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission:  (1) Proposed Amendments  to Rules of Procedure, regarding the Executive 
Committee and the Budget and Expenses;  (2) Pr oposed Amendments to the Procedures for the 
Elaboration of Codex Standards a nd Related Texts, related to the critical review of standards and 
related texts;  (3) Draft Criteria for the Appointment  of Chairpersons;  (4) Draft Guidelines to Host 
Governments of Codex Committees and ad hoc  Intergovernmental Task Forces;  (5) Guidelines on 
the Conduct of Meetings of Codex Committees and ad hoc  Intergovernmental Task Forces; and, (6) 
Draft Guidelines to Chairpersons of Codex Committees and ad hoc  Intergovernmental Task Forces.  
3. The Committee also agreed to consider further the revision of the Rule of Procedure on the 
participation of international or ganisations and the status of observers in the Executive Committee, 
the review of the Principles Concerning the Par ticipation of Internati onal Non-Governmental 
Organizations in the Work of the Codex Alimentari us Commission, the revision of the Criteria for the 
Establishment of Work Priorities, the Draft Guidelines on Physical Working Groups and the Draft Guidelines on Electronic Working Groups. 
4. The 12
th Session of  the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems  advanced the proposed draft Principles and Guidelines for the Exchange of 
Information in Food Safety Emergency Situations (Revision of the Codex Guidelines for the 
Exchange of Information in Food Control Emergency Situations ) for final adoption by the next G/TBT/GEN/6 
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Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and decided not to pursue work on the judgment of equivalence of technical regulations associated w ith food inspection and certification systems at the 
current time.  The Committee agreed to continue  its discussion on traceability/product tracing in the 
context of food inspection and certification systems.   The Committee agreed to initiate new work on 
Appendices to the Guidelines on the Judgement of Equi valence of Sanitary Measures Associated with 
Food Inspection and Certification Systems; Principles  for Electronic Certification; and Guidelines for 
Risk-based Inspection of Imported Foods, pending approval by the Commission. 
5. The 53
rd Session of the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission  
discussed matters related to the implementation of the Joint FAO/WHO Evaluation of the Codex 
Alimentarius and Other FAO and WHO Work on Food Standards.  It also noted a progress report on 
the FAO/WHO Project and Trust Fund for Enhanced Pa rticipation in Codex.  While the threshold for 
the Trust Fund would be reached soon to make the Fu nd operational shortly, it agreed with a view that 
the current level of funding was too low and th at FAO and WHO should more actively seek sources 
of funding, and in particular, that this issue s hould be raised in the WTO Committee on Sanitary and 
Phytosanitary Measures.   
6. The 25th Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling considers 
general issues related to methodology. In particular , during the last session, were discussed: (1) Draft 
General Guidelines on Sampling;  (2) Draft General Guidelines on Measurement Uncertainty;  
(3) Criteria for Evaluating Acceptable Methods of An alysis;  and, (4) Criteria for the Methods for 
Detection and Identification of Foods Derived from Biotechnology. 
2. Forthcoming Codex Meetings  
(a) The 36th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants 
(Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 22-26 March 2004). 
(b) The 36th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (Washington DC, 
United States, 29 March - 3 April 2004). 
(c) The 36th Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (New Delhi, India, 
19-24 April 2004). 
(d) The 6th Session of the Codex Committee on M ilk and Milk Products (Auckland, 
New Zealand, 26-30 April 2004). 
(e) The 20th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles (Paris, France, 
3-7 May 2004). 
(f) The 32nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (Montreal, Canada, 
10-14 May 2004). 
(g) The 5th Session of the ad hoc  Intergovernmental Task Force on Animal Feeding 
(Copenhagen, Denmark, 17-19 May 2004). 
(h) The 54th Session Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission 
(Geneva, Switzerland, 24-26 June 2004). 
(i) The 27th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Geneva, Switzerland, 
28 June - 3 July 2004). 
7. The 6th Session of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products  will be primarily 
involved in the further elaboration and revision of  a number of standards for milk products which  G/TBT/GEN/6 
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includes, among others, standards for:  (i) milk prod ucts with vegetable fat;  (ii) 16 individual cheese 
varieties;  (iii) dairy spreads;  (iv) processed chees e;  and, (v) whey cheeses.   The Committee will also 
continue the elaboration of the model export certificate for milk and milk products.  
8. In addition to procedural issues, the 20th Session of  the Codex Committee on General 
Principles will consider the Proposed Draft Working Prin ciples for Risk Analysis for Food Safety, 
the Proposed Draft Revised Code of Et hics for International Trade in F oods, and the Definition of 
Traceability/ Product Tracing of Foodstuffs. 
9. The 32nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling  will consider the following 
questions:  (1) Labelling of Foods and Food Ingred ients Obtained through Certain Techniques of 
Genetic Modification / Genetic Engineering;  (2) Draft Guidelines for Use of Health and Nutrition Claims (inclusion of health claims);  (3) Guide lines for the Production, Processing, Labelling and 
Marketing of Organically Produced Food s: Draft Revised:  Revision of th e list of Permit ted Substances;  
and, (4) Proposed Draft Amendment to the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods : 
Quantitative Declaration of Ingredient s.  It will also consider whether to proceed with work on the issues 
of “Food Labelling and Traceability/ Product Tr acing” and “Country of Origin Labelling”. 
10. The Codex Alimentarius Commission  will hold its 27
th Session in the Centre International 
de Conférences Genève (CICG) from 28 June to 3 July 2004, preceded by the 54th Session of the 
Executive Committee.  This is in accordance with the decision of 26th Session of the Commission to 
hold annual meetings of the Commission.  The 27th Session will consider, among others, draft Codex 
standards at Step 8, proposed drafts at Step 5,  proposals for new work as well as proposals to amend 
the Rules of Procedure and other texts in the Procedural Manual. 
3. Membership of the Codex Alimentarius Commission 
11. The European Community and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have joined the Commission 
as new Members since October 2003. As of  1 March 2004, the membership of the 
Codex Alimentarius Commission comprises 170 Member  Nations and one Member Organization.   
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