G/TBT/GEN/195  
 
4 May 2016  
(16-2515)  Page: 1/2  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
 WHO STATEMENT RELATED TO NUTRITION LABELLING 
STATEMENT BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION 
This document contains information provided by the WHO at the TBT Committee meeting of  
9-10 March 2016 under Agenda Item 5 (Update by Observers). 
 
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1.  As also informed at the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) held in November 2015, WHO considers nutrition labelling as one of the policy options for promoting healthy diet. 
This was highlighted by several global commitments and action plans endorsed by the World 
Health Assembly (WHA). These include the Comprehensive Implementation Plan on Maternal, Infant and Young Child Nutrition, the Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-
communicable Diseases 2013 – 2020, and most recent ly the Declaration and Framework for Action 
adopted by the 2
nd International Conference on Nutrit ion (ICN2) held in November 2014. 
2.  We have also mentioned at last TBT Committee in November 2015 that the Codex Guidelines 
on Nutrition Labe lling (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 consideration of increasing public health problems of obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). These 
revisions include the expanded list of mandatory nut rients to be declared (such as fat, saturated 
fat, sodium and total sugars), and the establishm ent of nutrient reference values (NRVs) for NCDs, 
such as saturated fat, sodium and potassium, in  accordance with the WHO guidelines which are 
developed based on extensive evidence reviews. 
3.  Section 5 of these Codex Guidelines pr ovide guidance on "Supplementary nutrition 
information", and as such, it needs to be considered in the context of Nutrient Declaration described in the Section 3.  
4.  As informed at the last TBT Committee in November 2015, WHO had held a Technical Meeting 
on Nutrition Labelling for Promoting Healthy Diet on 9–11 December 2015. The meeting was hosted by the Government of Portugal in Lisbon and the aims of the meeting were to: 
a. review the types of front-of-pack labelling systems that are currently being implemented 
or proposed and identify their benefits and limitations; 
b. review and assess the evidence on the effectiveness of different types of front-of-pack 
labelling systems;  
c. review case studies of countries with experience in implementing front-of-pack labelling; 
d. identify issues and considerations for the design and implementation of front-of-pack 
labelling systems in order to develop guidin g principles and a guidance framework for 
implementing front-of-pack labelling. G/TBT/GEN/195 
 
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  5.  Currently the background review document an d the report of the meeting are being finalized 
for publication. In addition, WHO is currentl y developing guiding principles and guidance 
framework manual to support countries in implementing effective front-of-pack labelling systems.  
6.  Please note that this statement is also re lated and is very relevant to the discussions which 
took place in Agenda item 2.B on Specific Trade Concerns (STCs) related to nutrition labelling 
issues earlier in the Committee.  
 
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