Food Law News - FAO/WHO/WTO/Codex - 2006
10-13 October 2006
CODEX - Coordinating Committee for North America and the South West Pacific (9th Session), Apia, Samoa
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The Ninth Session of the Codex Coordinating Committee for North America and the South West Pacific reached the following conclusions:
M ATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE 30TH SESSION OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION AND BY THE 59TH SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTE:
The Coordinating Committee:
- endorsed the recommendations of the 28 th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission regarding the role and activities of Regional Coordinating Committees (para. 6);
- endorsed Part 1 of the draft Strategic Plan 2008-2013 (para. 9) and made comments on Part 2 (paras 10-13) and Part 3 (para. 14);
- endorsed Proposals 4, 5 and 7 related to the Review of the Codex Committees Structure and Mandates of Codex Committees and Task Forces (para. 17) and made comments on the remaining Proposals (paras 18-25);
- unanimously agreed that Tonga be appointed as Regional Coordinator for the North America and the South West Pacific and expressed its thanks to Samoa for the excellent work carried out as Regional Coordinator (para78-79).
M ATTERS R EFERRED TO CODEX COMMITTEES AND TASK FORCES
The Coordinating Committee:
Codex Committee on General Principles (CCGP)
- generally agreed that the current terms of reference of the coordinating committees should be kept unchanged (para. 27);
- agreed that the roles of the Regional Coordinators and the Members Elected on a Geographical Basis should be clarified in the Procedural Manual and recommended that this issue continue to be discussed at the next Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles (para. 31).
OTHER MATTERS
The Coordinating Committee:
- noted its appreciation for member countries' contribution to the Trust Fund as it had facilitated the participation of many developing countries of this region to Codex activities and expressed its appreciation to the activities of FAO and WHO in the region (para. 37);
- noted the status of implementation of the Strategic Plan for CCNASWP and agreed: i) to take a progressive approach for the implementation of Objectives 3 and 4 of the Strategic Plan for CCNASWP (para. 43); ii) to establish an electronic Working Group, led by Samoa, in its capacity of RegionalCoordinator, to advance in the activities related to Objective 6 of the Strategic Plan for CCNASWP (para. 45); to extend the Strategic Plan until 2008 and that the Regional Coordinator (the current and the new one to be appointed by the 30 th Session of the Commission) would facilitate consultation among CCNASWP members and would coordinate work on the preparation of a draft new Strategic Plan to be considered at its next session (para. 46); and that the draft would retain those activities not yet implemented and include new ones according to recent developments in Codex and it include timelines for implementation of activities and measurable objectives (para. 47);
- agreed to establish a physical Working Group, under the leadership of the new Regional Coordinator, to meet immediately prior to its next session, to consider the draft new Strategic Plan (para. 48);
- expressed its appreciation for the quality of the reports on national food control system and consumer participation in food standards setting (para. 50);
- noted that the reports on the use of Codex Standards at national and regional levels showed the strong dependency of Pacific Island Countries on Codex because of the lack of resources to develop their own standards (para. 77);
- recommended to call on FAO and WHO, as parent bodies of Codex, to ensure adequate funding for the Commission to carry out its mandate and asked the CCNASWP members to make representation in the appropriate governing body meetings of FAO and WHO in support of adequate funding for the activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (para. 81);
- agreed to request the electronic Working Group on Objective 6 of the Strategic Plan for CCNASWP to add to its terms of reference the development of a comprehensive discussion paper to justify the need to develop a standard for kava, which would take into account the above points, for consideration at its next session (para. 83)
- agreed to request the electronic Working Group on Objective 6 of the Strategic Plan for CCNASWP to add to its terms of reference the development of a comprehensive discussion paper on the need to develop a standard for Nonu products consideration at its next session (para. 84);
- noted the summary on the status of development and discussion of the standard for Bitter Cassava in the Codex Committee for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (para. 85).
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