G/TBT/GEN/222  
 
30 May 2017  
(17-2887) Page: 1/2 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZ ATION (WHO) RELATED  
TO THE WORK OF THE W TO TBT COMMITTEE  
STATEMENT BY W HO 
This document contains the statement delivered by the WHO at the TBT Committee meeting of 
29-30 March 2017 under Agenda Item 5 (Updating by Obs ervers).  
 
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1.  Referring back to the discussions held in Agenda item 2, WHO would like to acknowledge and 
praise the great efforts being made by a number of Member States in taking actions and policy 
measures (such as implementing nutrition la belling, regulating inappropriate marketing of foods 
for infants and young children) to promote healthy diets and improve nutrition which is a 
foundation for health of the consumers and is a foundation for achieving the Sustainable 
Development Goals which all Member States have committed to achieve by 2030. We are also very 
encouraged with the alarming number of Member States which have expressed their strong 
support for those countries taking public health measures as their legitimate right to protect the 
health of the consumers in their respective countries.  
2.  As informed at previous TBT meetings, WHO considers nutrition labelling as one of the policy 
options for promoting healthy diets. This was highlighted by several global commitments and 
action plans end orsed by the World Health Assembly (WHA), including the Comprehensive 
Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition, the Global Action Plan for the 
Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013 – 2020, and the Declaration and 
Framework for Action adopted by the 2nd International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) in 2014 
which served as a basis for the UN General Assembly proclaiming 2016 – 2025 as the Decade of 
Action for Nutrition.  
3.  As many of you know, the Codex Guidelines on Nut rition Labelling (CAC/GL 2 – 1985) provides 
detailed guidance on how to implement nutrition labelling, particularly related to the component on 
nutrient declarations. These guidelines have been going through a series of updates and revisions 
to take into c onsideration of increasing public health problems of obesity and diet -related 
noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) as part of Codex’s commitment to implement the WHO Global 
Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. The revisions which have been made to th e 
Guidelines include the expanded list of mandatory nutrients to be declared (such as fat, saturated 
fat, sodium and total sugars), and the establishment of nutrient reference values (NRVs) for NCDs, 
such as saturated fat, sodium and potassium, in accordan ce with the WHO guidelines which are 
developed based on extensive evidence reviews.  
4.  Furthermore, responding to the increasing attentions, interests and guidance requests received 
from various Member States, the Codes Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) has agreed at its 43rd 
Session last year to start a new work to revise the Nutrition Labelling Guidelines to take into 
consideration of front -of-pack labelling and CCFL also agreed that the work will take into 
consideration of the outcomes of the WHO Technical  Meeting held in December 2015 and the 
background evidence review paper prepared for the meeting. CCFL further agreed that while the 
Committee starts to initiate the proposed work, the countries that have started or are planning to 
implement front -of-pack labelling should be able to proceed with their work.  G/TBT/GEN/222  
 
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  5.  The need for coherence between the work of Codex (such as Codex sta ndards and guidelines) 
and WHO guidelines and policies (including WHA resolutions) has been raised by Member States at 
various WHO Gover ning Body discussions. In fact, during the last 10 years there have been 
increasing reference and request to Codex by WHA to strengthen the work of the Codex in 
supporting public health efforts, and simultaneously encouraging Member States to use Codex 
standards and guidelines to promote public health and protect the health of consumers which is 
the common mandate of WHO and of Codex.  
6.  The issue on the need for coherence was brought to the attention of the Codex Executive 
Committee as well as the Codex Comm ission last year and discussions are underway. However, a 
number of Codex Committees, such as CCFL as mentioned earlier and the Codex Committee on 
Nutrition and Food for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU), have been working since 2007 to ensure 
the coherence o f their work in developing and/or updating standards and guidelines by their 
respective Committees take into consideration and incorporate the references of relevant WHO 
guidelines and WHA resolutions as you will be able to see in a number of various newly  developed 
or updated standards and guidelines, including most recently regarding the updating of the 
Standard for Follow -up Formula, CCNUSDU at its 38th Session last year has agreed to include the 
reference to the Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitut es and relevant WHA resolutions . 
7.  Since various issues related to specific trade concerns are often referred to Codex standards 
and guidelines, WHO is happy to inform this Committee of these efforts and in fact achievements 
that have been made to date in en suring Codex standards and guidelines are coherent with WHO 
guidelines and policies in order to promote public health and protect the health of consumers.  
 
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