. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/158
17 December 1999
(99-5461)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
THE MELBOURNE RECOMMENDATIONS –
GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CONFERENCE
Statement made by the Codex Alimentarius Commission
at the meeting of 10-11 November 1999
The FAO Conference on International Food Trade beyond 2000:  Science-Based Decisions,
Harmonization, Equivalence and Mutual Recognition, meeting in Melbourne, Australia from 11 to
15 October 1999, drew the attention of the member governments of the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the World TradeOrganization, to the following recommendations:
1. The Conference expressed its appreciation for the work of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission and its fullest support to the current direction of the Commission's work.  The
Conference stressed in particular the importance of the work of the Commission in providingstandards, guidelines and other recommendations on consumer health protection and the facilitation of
trade and called upon member governments to strengthen their contributions and participation in its
work.
2. Stressing the importance of consumer health protection in the work of the Codex
Alimentarius Commission, the Conference called upon WHO to give greater emphasis to its work and
strengthen its involvement in relation to the Codex Alimentarius Commission.  The Conference also
called upon FAO and WHO to review their current relationship under the Joint FAO/WHO FoodStandards Programme with a view to establishing a more equitable arrangement.
3. The Conference called upon countries to adhere to the Codex Code of Ethics for International
Trade in Food in order to ensure that food products exported to developing countries met national or
international requirements.
4. The Conference reaffirmed its commitment to the Statements of Principle Concerning the
Role of Science in the Codex Decision-Making Process and the Extent to Which Other Factors are
Taken into Account and to the Statements of Principle Relating to the Role of Food Safety Risk
Assessment.
5. The Conference called upon all parties to recognize that precaution has been and should
remain an essential element of risk analysis in the formulation of national and international standards,and agreed that the Codex Alimentarius Commission was the most appropriate forum to discuss this
issue.
6. Governments should clearly acknowledge the role of consumers, producers and their
representative bodies in the development of national and international food standards to improve
transparency and engender commitment.  Similarly, efforts should be made to establish nationalconsultative structures for Codex Alimentarius that included the participation of all interested parties.G/SPS/GEN/158
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7. To ensure that adequate resources become av ailable for implementing effective food control
systems, there is an urgent need for developing countries to become aware of the economic and health
benefits of such systems at the highest political and policy levels in the country.  In implementing
Codex work, FAO, WHO and funding agencies should give priority consideration to the special needs
of developing countries, including infrastructure, resources and technical and legal capabilities, whenconsidering and elaborating Codex texts.
8. Countries should accept the challenge of strengthening the capacities and capabilities of their
national food regulatory systems by devoting increased resources, improving information technology
systems, and participating more actively in meetings of relevant technical committees and
commissions dealing with food regulatory matters.
9. Governments of member countries should take all necessary steps to apply Codex standards
to all imported, exported and domestically produced and traded foods.
10. FAO, WHO, government agencies, and industry should make greater efforts to learn and
respond to consumers' legitimate concerns about food safety and quality, and to ensure that food-
related communication is a two-way, respectful, interactive process.
11. The Conference recommended that member governments should support relevant food safety
research;  enhance surveillance systems for, and reporting of, foodborne diseases;  increase researchcoordination and cooperation so that risk analysis data will be more universally accepted;  and
contribute national data to international database systems.  Competent research institutes from
developing countries should be supported to contribute to this effort.
12. Member governments, FAO and WHO should adopt policies wholly consistent with the need
for independent and transparent risk assessment processes in particular in relation to the selection ofthe scientific experts, the working procedures and the tightening of the conflict of interest
requirements.  FAO and WHO should also provide adequate resources to the expert bodies for risk
assessment to continue to ensure confidence and competence in expert evaluations.
13. WHO and FAO should establish an international expert advisory body similar to JECFA and
JMPR to provide microbiological risk assess ment support to FAO, WHO and other bodies.
14. The Conference supported efforts by FAO and WHO to explore strategies to collect
information from all regions of the world about consumer requirements, perceptions, beliefs and
motivations concerning food, nutrition and food safety so as to consider the role that food labelling
and other means of communication can play in addressing these concerns.
15. FAO, WHO, WTO and other concerned international organizations, in cooperation with
funding agencies and other suitable donors, should increase their technical support to developing
countries to strengthen their food quality and safety assurance and control systems in order to allowthem to participate actively in international food trade beyond the year 2000.
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