G/TBT/GEN/173  
 
14 July 2014  
(14-4005)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION  
This document contains information provided by the Codex Alimentarius at the TBT Committee 
meeting of 18-19 June 2014 under Agenda Item 5 (Update by Observers). 
 
_______________ 
 
 
1  CODEX SESSIONS SINCE THE LAST MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE (MARCH 2014) 
 Codex Committee Contaminants in Foods (The Hague, Netherlands, 31 March-4 April 2014) 
 Codex Committee on General Principles (Paris, France, 7-11 April 2014) 
 Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (Nanjing, China, 5-10 May 2014) 
2  FORTHCOMING CODEX MEETINGS  Executive Committee on the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Geneva, Switzerland,  
8-11 July 2014) 
 Codex Alimentarius Commission (Geneva, Switzerland, 14-18 July 2014) 
 Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables (Philadelphia, USA, 8-12 September 
2014) 
 FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for North America and South West Pacific (Kokopo, 
Papua New Guinea, 23-26 September 2014) 
 FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Europe (Netherlands, 30 Sep.-3 Oct. 2014) 
 Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems 
(Brisbane, Australia, 13-17 October 2014) 
 Codex Committee on Food  Labellin g (Rome, Italy, 20-24 October 2014) 
 FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Asia  (Tokyo, Japan, 3-7 November 2014) 
1.  The 37th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission will consider several draft and 
proposed draft standards and related texts for adoption proposed by its subsidiary bodies; will 
discuss financial and budgetary matters, strategic planning, relations between Codex and other 
international organizations such as OIE and ISO, the annual report of the FAO/WHO Project and Trust Fund for Enhanced Participation in Codex. 
2.  The six FAO/WHO Coordinating Committees w ill discuss Codex matters of interest to their 
respective region including information on food control systems, Codex structures and use of 
Codex standards at national and regional levels. The Coordinating Committees will also discuss problems and needs of the region concerning food  standards and food control; regional standards 
for products that may not be traded internationally but for which there is significant regional trade; 
proposals for strengthening Coordinating Committees’ roles and platform. 
3.  Regional workshops on issues of interest to the region, convened by FAO and WHO, will be held 
in conjunction with the Coordinating Committees and with funding from the Codex Trust Fund. G/TBT/GEN/173 
 
- 2 - 
 
  4.  The 27th Session of the Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables will consider 
standards for canned fruits, quick frozen vegetables and ginseng products (as it relate to food), additional food additive provisions in certain standards for processed fruits and vegetables, packing media provisions for pickled fruits and vege tables, prioritization of work on the review of 
remaining individual standards for processed fruits  and vegetables and a discussion paper on ways 
to deal with the standardization of dry and dried produce. 
5.  The 21st Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems will consider the proposals for new work on: principles and guidelines for the 
elaboration and management of questionnaires directed at exporting countries, principles and guidelines for monitoring regulatory performance of national food control systems, and the revision of the Principles and Guidelines for the Exchan g e  o f  I n f o r m a t i o n  i n  F o o d  S a f e t y  E m e r g e n c y  
Situations (CAC/GL 19-1995). The Committee will consider amendments to the Guidelines for the 
Exchange of Information between Countries on Re jections of Imported food (CAC/GL 25-1997) to 
address animal feeding. 
6.  The 42nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling will continue work on the 
development of a section on organic aquaculture in the Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labelling and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods; will consider proposals for new work: 
review of the general standard for the labelling of  prepackaged foods addressing the issue on date 
marking, discussion papers addressing the labellin g of non-retail containers and the issues related 
to internet sales of food. 
7.  Codex Committee on Sugars (working by correspondence) continues to consider the standard 
for dehydrated non-centrifugated sugarcane. 
3  TECHNICAL COOPERATION 8.  The document on relevant activities of FAO an d WHO, including specific projects at the regional 
and national level, is available at the following address: 
ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/meetings/cac/cac37/cac37_14e.pdf  
9.  The document on the Codex Trust Fund is available at the following addresses: 
ftp://ftp.fao.org/Codex/Meetings/cac/cac37/cac37_13e.pdf  
 
__________