. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/93 
30 April 2010 
 (10-2340) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION 
 
  The following information was provided by the Codex Alimentarius Commission
 at the 
TBT Committee meeting of 24-25 March 2010.  
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  I. CODEX SESSIONS SINCE THE LAST MEETING OF THE TBT COMMITTEE 
(NOVEMBER 2009) 
(a) The 31st Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary 
Uses (Düsseldorf, Germany, 2-6 November 2009); 
(b) The 41st Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (San Diego, United 
States of America, 16-20 November 2009); 
(c) The 63rd Session of the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius 
Commission (Geneva, Switzerland, 8-11 December 2009); 
(d) The Ninth Session of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products (Auckland, 
New Zealand, 1-5 February 2010); 
(e) The 18th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems (Surfers' Pa radise, Australia, 1-5 March 2010); 
(f) The 31st Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling 
(Budapest, Hungary, 8-12 March 2010). 
 
In particular, the TBT Committee may wish to note the following:  
1. The 31
st Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses  
finalised the List of Methods for Dietary Fibre corresponding to the definition of dietary fibre, forwarded the Proposed Draft General Principles for Establishing Nutrient Reference Values of 
Vitamins and Minerals for General Population to  the Commission for adoption as Draft Guidelines, 
and agreed to initiate new work on the revision of  the General Principles for the Addition of Essential 
Nutrients to Foods, and the revision of the Guide lines on Formulated Supplementary Foods for Older 
Infants and Young Children. 
2. The 9
th Session of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products  finalised the Draft 
Amendment to the Codex Standard for Fermented Milks pertaining to Drinks based on Fermented 
Milk and updated the lists of methods of analysis  and sampling, food additives and contaminants in 
the standards for milk and milk products, and proposed some amendments to the Model Export G/TBT/GEN/93 
Page 2  
 
  Certificate for Milk and Milk Products .  The Committee also proposed to  adjourn sine die as its work 
was completed. 
3. The 18
th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems finalised the Principles and Guidelin es for the conduct of assessment of 
foreign official inspection and certification systems (Annex to the Guidelines for the design, 
operation, assessment and accreditation of food  import and export inspection and certification 
systems) . 
4. The 31st Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling  finalised 
the Proposed Draft Criteria on Performance Criteria and Validation of Methods for the Detection, 
Identification and Quantification of Specific DNA Sequences and Specific Proteins, made substantial 
progress on the revision of the current Guidelines on Measurement Uncertainty , and endorsed a large 
number of methods especially on dietary fibre and on milk and milk products. 
II. FORTHCOMING CODEX MEETINGS  
(a) Codex Committee on Food Additives ( 42nd Session,  Beijing, China,  
15-19 March 2010); 
(b) Codex Committee on General Principles (26th Session, Paris, France,  
12-16 April 2010); 
(c) Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (4th Session, Izmir, Turkey,  
26-30 April 2010); 
(d) Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (42nd Session, Xian, China,  
19-24 April 2010); 
(e) Codex Committee on Food Labelling (38t h Session, Québec City, Canada,  
3-5 May 2010). 
In particular, the TBT Committee may wish to note the following:  
5. The 26th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles will consider the  Proposed 
Draft Revised Code of Ethics for In ternational Trade in Foods, and review the Risk Analysis Policies of 
Codex Committees, as well as several general and procedural questions.  
6. The 38th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling  will consider in particular the 
Proposed Draft Revision of the Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling concerning the list of nutrients that 
are always declared on a voluntary or mandatory basis and other issues related to the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. It will consider several amendments to the Guidelines 
for the Production, Processing, Labelling an d Marketing of Organically Produced Foods and 
continue its discussions on the Labelling of Foods and Food Ingredients Obtained through Certain 
Techniques of Genetic Modification / Genetic Engineering. 
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