. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SPS/GEN/750 
16 February 2007 
 (07-0671) 
Committee on Sanitary a nd Phytosanitary Measures Original:   English 
  
 
 
SUBMISSION BY THE INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR STANDARDIZATION 
(ISO) TO THE SPS COMMITTEE MEETING – 28 FEBRUARY, 1 MARCH 2007 
 
 
 The following communication, received on 15 Fe bruary 2007, is being circulated at the 
request of ISO. 
 
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1. The International Organization for Standard ization (ISO) has provided this updated 
information paper following on-going communications between the ISO Centra l Secretariat and the 
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) of the WTO.  It provides a summary of 
current work undertaken by ISO that ma y be of interest to the SPS Committee. 
2. ISO is an observer at the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  It is also an observer at the WTO 
Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) and the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade 
(TBT).  In the area of technical assistance, ISO cooperates regularly with WTO, as well as with ITC 
and UNIDO, in the framework of a Memora ndum of Understanding in the latter case. 
3. There is a long history of collaboration betw een the Codex Alimentarius and ISO, in 
particular through ISO Technical Committee TC 34, Food products .  Indeed, Codex and ISO 
activities are complementary.  Codex, as an inte rgovernmental organization, prepares consensus-
based documents to assist governments in their statut ory and regulatory work to protect citizens from 
health hazards related to food consumption.  ISO,  as an international non-gove rnmental organization, 
prepares standards on test methods and nomenclature to assist stakeholders along the food chain to meet the existing statutory and regulatory requireme nts, as well as the requirements of consumers of 
these products.  The number of ISO methods  endorsed by Codex is over 100.  
4. ISO 22000:2005, Food safety management systems — Re quirements for any organization in 
the food chain , is based on a management systems approach, as in ISO 9001:2000, and on the Codex 
hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP ) system.  The need for a new International 
Standard arose from the fact that a variety of national standards had been developed and several 
retailer organizations had prepared documents (B RC, EFSIS, IFS, etc.) for the establishment and 
auditing of food safety systems, possibly including HACCP requirements.  ISO 22000 should help to 
clarify and harmonize the present situation. The ISO 22000 standard has been adopted as a national 
standard in a number of countries including countr ies of the European Union.  Although ISO itself 
does not provide certification to its standards, we ar e informed of more than 70 companies worldwide 
that have now been certified by third parties to ISO 22000, including companies in the EU, Australia, 
Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, 
South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Tunisia and USA. 
5. A Technical Specification, ISO/TS 22004:2005, Food safety management systems — 
Guidance on the application of ISO 22000:2005 , gives generic guidance to small and large enterprises G/SPS/GEN/750 
Page 2  
 
  on the implementation of ISO 22000, and explains the 'p rocess approach' used in that standard. For an 
organization to operate effectively and efficiently , it has to identify and manage numerous linked 
activities.  This set of linked activities using res ources and managed to enable the transformation of 
inputs into outputs, is considered a 'process'.  
6. ISO, through TC 34, Food products, and its Committee on Conformity Assessment, CASCO, 
has recently published Technical Specification ISO/TS 22003:2007, Food safety management systems 
— Requirements for bodies providing audit and cer tification of food safety management systems .  It is 
based on the generic standard that covers the area of certification and auditing of management 
systems, namely ISO/IEC 17021:2006, Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies providing 
audit and certification of management systems , and includes specific guidance on certification to 
ISO 22000.  
7. ISO/TC 34, together with the European Comm ittee for Standardization (CEN), is preparing 
ISO 22005, Traceability in the feed and food chain — Ge neral principles and basic requirements for 
system design and implementation .  It will shortly be out for vote as a Final Draft International 
Standard.  This new Internationa l Standard will assist feed and food organizations to document the 
history, application and location of a product or  components. The Working Group has collaborated 
closely with Codex, and the standard is intende d to complement the Codex work on traceability as it 
explains the design of a suitable system to enable or ganizations to comply with the regulations set by 
Codex.  
8. Other important ISO International Standard s specify methods for the detection and 
quantification of genetically modified organisms in  foodstuffs.  These standards, also developed in 
close cooperation with CEN, include: 
ISO 21571:2005, Foodstuffs — Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified 
organisms and derived products — Nucleic acid extraction 
ISO 21569:2005, Foodstuffs — Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified 
organisms and derived products — Qual itative nucleic acid based methods 
ISO 21570:2005, Foodstuffs — Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified 
organisms and derived products — Quan titative nucleic acid based methods   
ISO 24276:2006, Foodstuffs —Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified 
organisms and derived products — Ge neral requirements and definitions  
 
9. ISO considers that using its International Standards will assist regulatory authorities in 
achieving their aims in public health and safety at le ss cost to manufacturers and consumers, whilst at 
the same time disseminating new technologies and good practices. 
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