WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/32 
23 May 2006 
 (06-2493) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
REPORT PROVIDED BY THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION  
AT THE TBT COMMITTEE MEETING OF 15-17 MARCH 2006 
 
Agenda Item 5(b):  Updating by Observers
 
 
 
 The following report, dated 15 March 2006, is being circulated at the request of the Codex . 
 
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 I. CODEX SESSIONS SINCE THE LAST MEETING OF THE TBT COMMITTEE 
(2 NOVEMBER 2005) 
• The 27
th Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses 
(Bonn, Germany, 21-25 November 2005);  
• The 14th Session of the  Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems (Melbourne, Aust ralia, 28 November- 2 December 2005); and  
• The 57th Session of the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission 
(Geneva, Switzerland, 6-9 December 2005). 
In particular, the attention of the TBT Committee is drawn to the following: 
1. The 27th Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary 
Uses  finalized the Draft Revised Standard for Proc essed Cereal Based Foods for Infants and Young 
Children and made substantial progress on the Propo sed Draft Standard for Formulas for Special 
Medical Purposes Intended for Infants.  
2. The 14th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems  recommended the 29th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission to 
adopt: i) the Principles and Guidelines for Imported Food Inspection Based on Risk; and ii) the Principles for the Application of Traceability/Product Tracing in the Context of Food Import and 
Export Inspection and Certification Systems. In add ition, the Committee agreed to redraft all the five 
planned appendices as a single Appendix to the Gu idelines on the Judgement of Equivalence of 
Sanitary Measures Associated with  Food Inspection and Certification for consideration at its next 
Session. In this regard, the Comm ittee agreed that during the elaboration of the single Appendix, 
consideration will be given to either including elem ents of technical assistance in the single Appendix 
or developing a separate one. The Committee also agreed to continue work on the revision of 
Principles and Guidelines for Generic Official Cert ificate Formats and the Production and Issuance of 
Certificates for consideration at its next Session. G/TBT/GEN/32 
Page 2  
 
  3. The 57
th Session of the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission  
considered financial and budgetary ma tters, the implementation of the  Joint FAO/WHO Evaluation of 
the Codex Alimentarius and other FAO and WHO Work on Food Standards , the Critical Review of 
Proposals for New Work and Monitoring Progress of Standards Development and agreed on a revised 
draft of the Strategic Plan 2008-2013.  
II. FORTHCOMING CODEX MEETINGS  
4. The following Codex sessions may be of interest to the TBT Committee:  
• The 7th Session of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products (Queenstown, New 
Zealand, 27 March - 1 April 2006). 
• The 23rd Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles (Paris, France, 10 - 14 April 
2006) 
• The 34th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (Ottawa, Canada, 1 - 5 May 
2006) 
• 27th Session of the Codex Committee on Methods  of Analysis and Sampling (Budapest, 
Hungary, 15 - 19 May 2006)  
• 58th Session Executive Committee of the Codex  Alimentarius Commission (Geneva, 
Switzerland, 29 June - 1 July 2006)  
• 29th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Geneva, Switzerland, 3 - 7  July 2006)  
   
5. The 7th Session of the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products  will be primarily 
involved in the further elaboration and revision of st andards for milk and milk products. In particular, 
this Session of the Committee will consider: amendm ents to the Codex General Standard for Cheese; 
standards for milk products with vegetable fats; revisions of the Codex Standards for individual 
cheeses, dairy spreads, processed cheese, fermented milk drinks and whey cheeses. The Committee 
will further elaborate a model export certificate for mi lk and milk products. It will also consider food 
additive provisions of the Codex Standard for Fermented Milk Products, additional methods of 
analysis and sampling for milk and milk products and issues related to naming non standardised dairy 
products. 
6. The 23rd Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles in addition to procedural 
matters, will discuss the following: the Proposed Draf t Working Principles for Risk Analysis for Food 
Safety, the Proposed Draft Revised Code of Et hics for International Trade in Foods and Pr oposed new 
definitions of risk analysis terms related to food safety. 
7. The 34th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling  will consider in particular the 
updating of the Guidelines for the Production, Proc essing, Labelling and Marketing of Organically 
Produced Foods, the Labelling of Foods and Food I ngredients Obtained through Certain Techniques 
of Genetic Modification / Genetic Engineering, the Quantitative Declaration of Ingredients, and the 
paper prepared by the WHO in cooperation with FAO on how the implementation of the WHO Global 
Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health in the framework of Codex.   G/TBT/GEN/32 
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  8. The 27th Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling  will 
consider Criteria for Evaluating Acceptable Methods  of Analysis, the endorsement of methods of 
analysis and sampling in Codex standards, the conver sion of some methods of analysis into criteria, 
the Criteria for the Methods for the Detecti on and Identification of Foods Derived from 
Biotechnology, the Revision of the IUPAC/ISO/AOAC Protocol for Proficiency Testing, the revision 
and harmonisation of analytical termi nology, and uncertainty in sampling.   
III. MEMBERSHIP OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION 
9. The membership currently comprises 173 countries and the European Community. 
10. Uzbekistan has become a Member since October 2005. 
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