G/TBT/GEN/223  
 
30 May 2017  
(17-2888) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
ACTIVITIES OF THE CO DEX ALIMENTARIUS REL ATED TO THE WORK OF  
THE WTO TBT COMMITTE E 
STATEMENT BY CODEX  
This document contains information provided by  Codex  at the TBT Committee meeting of 
29-30 March 2017 under Agenda Item 5 (Updating by Observers )  
 
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In document RD/TBT/216 you can find information about Codex  meetings held since our last 
session and those until the next session. With regards to issues mentioned at this session we 
would like to say the following:  
1  LABELLING  
1.1.  The p rinciple of a ll Codex food labelling texts is to avoid  that consumer s are misled and to 
ensure that they receive  all necessary information.  
1.1  Country of origin labelling (COOL)  
1.2.  The General Standard for the Labelling of Pre -packaged Foods contains relevant guidance 
which  should be taken into account:   
"4.5.1 The country of origin of the food shall be declared if its omission would mislead 
or deceive the consumer.  
4.5.2 When a food undergoes processing in a second country which changes its 
nature, the country in which the processing is performed shall be considered to be the 
country of origin for the purposes of labelling. " 
1.2  Nutrition labe lling 
1.3.  As mentioned by WHO,  harmonisation would be useful for international trade. Codex will start 
work on this in the C odex Committee on Food Labelling ( CCFL) in autumn this year.  
1.3  Labelling  of alcoholic beverages  
1.4.  Previously we have heard some cases on labelling to reduce abuse of alcoholic beverages. 
WHO has a relevant strategy. Codex is a joint venture of FAO and WHO . WHO is planning to 
submit a proposal on alcohol labelling guidance  to the next CCFL covering: interdiction of health 
claims and possible warning messages.  
1.5.  We have heard the concerns expressed by some on the need to apply  the Codex Food 
Labelling guidance to alcoholic beverages  – however I would like to point out that hardly any 
country applies Codex standards for labelling to alcoholic beverages  (there is no nutrition label, 
there is no full additive declaration) . G/TBT/GEN/223  
 
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  2  INFANT FORMULA  
2.1.  This was mentioned by WHO. It is necessary to ens ure coherence between the different 
areas:  The Codex standard for infant formula contains extensive guidance. "1.4 The application of 
this section of the Standard should take into account the recommendations made in the 
International Code of Marketing of B reast-milk Substitutes (1981), the Global Strategy for Infant 
and Young Child Feeding and World Health Assembly resolution WHA54.2 (2001). " CGL23: 
Nutrition and health claims shall not be permitted for foods for infants and young children except 
where spec ifically provided for in relevant Codex standards or national legislation.  CXS72 contains  
strict guidance on "Additional Labelling Requirements " (Background copied below)  
3  FOOD ADDITIVES  
3.1.  Food additives come in all sorts – some to make food look better some to make it taste 
better – others to make it keep long er or make it safer. There are SPS and TBT aspects to this. 
The amount of food additive must be safe! For this Codex establishes maximum limits for food 
additives for which FAO/WHO  scientific advice (in this case JECFA) has established an  ADI. This is 
an SPS aspect.  
3.2.  For other additives where such a value has not been established because the additive is  not 
harmful to humans , the entry in the Codex Standard is  "GMP". Good manufacturing practices 
which mean  "the least possible  amount to  get the desired effect ".  
3.3.  GMP is the limit that has been established  in Codex for some of the food additives used in 
wine. But how much is GMP? Wine producers know how to produce a good wine  and have 
established limits for th ese additives to define  what constitutes GMP numerically. OIV and others 
have done this . Codex hasn 't done this  as we have no quality standard for wine.  
At the recent meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Additives t here were discussions on 
referring to O IV standards  in a footnote but there was no  consensus on doing this.  
4  TRUST FUND AND SCIEN TIFIC ADVICE  
4.1.  Codex is only one pillar of the Joint FAO/WHO food standards program. The standard setting 
part. Before we can set food standards , we need scientific adv ice and after we set them there 
needs to be assistance for implementation. FAO and WHO do this for Codex.   
4.2.  In addition to capacity building to implement our standards the active participation of all 
members in the standard setting of Codex is our goal. To ensure this – appropriate structures are 
needed in countries and specific capacity needs to be built.  
4.3.  In the last 12 years , we had the Codex Trust Funds or CTF1 – mainly  providing travel – now 
we have CTF 2 in operation since last year. CTF2 builds  on the s uccess of CTF1 and includes 
lessons learnt from it.  
4.4.  CTF2 needs contributions from members to be able to operate. I have my colleague f rom the 
CTF secretariat here to tell you more about it. With your indulgence, she will speak after me while 
I remain open  for questi ons on my intervention . 
5  WHY INVEST IN THE FA O/WHO CODEX TRUST FU ND? 
5.1.  The FAO/WHO Codex Trust Fund came into being on 1/01/2016  for a period of 12 years to 
support countries to build strong, solid and sustainable national capacity to engage in the  work of 
the Codex Alimentarius Commission. When countries invest in the international food safety 
standards they are making an important investment that brings a quadruple return:  
a. protection of consumer health everywhere in the world;  
b. reduction in the ec onomic cost of illness and death from unsafe food;  
c. economic gains from safe trade in food;  
d. more sustainable food production, including reduction in food losses.  G/TBT/GEN/223  
 
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  5.2.  Investing in the FAO/WHO Codex Trust Fund ensures that all countries can engage fully and 
effectively in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. When all countries participate in 
Codex the resulting standards are truly global standards of relevance to all countries, and can be 
the basis for national standards to protect consumer health and fa cilitate the trade of the country.  
5.3.  Support from the Codex Trust Fund is provided for individual countries or groups of countries 
for up to 3 years.  Currently 103 countries are eligible for support.  Four countries were successful 
in the first application ro und in 2016 and began implementation of activities in January 2017.  A 
new application round is planned for 2017.  
5.4.  Supported by the Codex Trust Fund, countries can implement an array of activities such as : 
building awareness among policy and decision -makers  to gain the political and financial support for 
Codex activities; strengthening the functioning of the national Codex Contact Point and National 
Codex Committee (or equivalent); building the capacity of national officials working in the area of 
food safet y and Codex to prepare for and participate effectively in Codex work at national, regional 
and international levels; building country capacity to provide scientific and technical input to the 
international food standard setting process.  
5.5.  USD3.3 million per  year is needed to support each eligible country at least once in the 
12 year lifespan of the Codex Trust Fund. The Codex Trust Fund currently has a US D 5.5 million 
funding gap for the period 2017 -2019.  
 
 
 
5.6.  FAO, WHO, the Codex Secretariat and the Codex T rust Fund are requesting members of the 
TBT Committee to raise awareness within their line ministries, as well as ministries of economic 
affairs, trade and development of the importance of supporting food safety and Codex work by 
making a contribution to t he Codex Trust Fund.   We stand ready to work with all interested parties 
to secure new contributions to the Codex Trust Fund, increase the level of current contributions, 
and find ways to receive multi -year contributions to improve the predictability and s ustainability of 
funding in future years.  
 
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