Street-Vended Foods
10. The Committee discussed the opportunity of revising the Regional Code of Hygienic Practice for the Preparation and Sale of Street Foods in the light of the recommendation of the Commission to incorporate the new approach reflected in the revised General Principles of Food Hygiene and the HACCP Guidelines.
11. Some delegations pointed out that the current Code was used as a basis for national programmes for the control of street foods, and integrated in national legislation. It was proposed that the Committee should consider the experiences of countries in the Region with the application of the Code, prior to undertaking a revision. Other delegations felt that the recommendation of the Commission should be carried out rapidly and noted that the HACCP approach was already used in their inspection systems. The Delegation of Brazil proposed to include an Annex on the application of the HACCP system and the training of vendors.
12. The Committee agreed to circulate the Code of Practice in a Circular Letter which would invite countries to present information on their experience and proposals for amendments to the current text. Subject to the approval of the Commission, the Secretariat would prepare a revised draft in the light of the comments received, in cooperation with interested countries, for consideration by the next session of the Committee. The Delegations of Peru, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Ecuador indicated their interest to participate in the revision.
Scientific Principles
13. With reference to the recommendation of the CCGP to include the four statements of principles in an Appendix to the Procedural Manual, several delegations pointed out that the Principles provided an essential orientation for the work of Codex as a whole, which was not reflected by their inclusion in an appendix. The Delegation of Chile expressed the view that in the future the CCGP working documents should be available to the CCLAC in order to discuss such questions. While noting that the final decision on this question would be taken by the Commission, the Committee recommended that in view of the importance of the statements, they should be included in the General Principles of Codex in the body of the Procedural Manual.
Risk Analysis
14. The Observer from Consumers International stressed the importance of transparency and the necessity of active involvement of consumers in the decision-making process.
15. The Delegation of Argentina pointed out the problems of the Spanish translation of the definitions proposed by the Expert Consultation on Risk Analysis, especially regarding the meaning of risk and hazard (see para. 94).
Quorum
16. The Committee noted that the Commission had decided to retain the special quorum for the amendment of the Rules of Procedures and that the CCGP had agreed to review the elaboration and adoption procedures as a whole, including the normal quorum (adoption of texts). As the quorum had been reached at the last Commission session and participation was generally increasing, the Committee agreed that the quorum was not an issue in itself at this stage.
17. With reference to the request of the Commission concerning mechanisms facilitating the expression of consensus, the Delegation of Cuba pointed out that, in view of the difficulties met by a number of countries to attend Codex sessions, governments might do so through their diplomatic representations, but this was often difficult as not enough time was allowed to discuss the documents in detail and prepare comments in reply to Circular Letters. The Committee agreed that the late reception of documents was an obstacle to effective participation and recommended that they should be sent well ahead of the Committees’ sessions.
Advisory Texts
18. In reply to a question of the Delegation of Argentina, the Secretariat recalled that CCGP had recommended to avoid the terms “ advisory” and “ mandatory” in Codex texts because they had no relevance under WTO; reference should be made to “essential” requirements as set out in the format of standards. Standards and related texts were mandatory only in the framework of national legislation regarding their application. The Chairman emphasized that under the SPS Agreement, Codex texts were a reference for international trade.
19. Regarding the recommendations of the CCGP concerning the status of advisory texts, the Delegation of Uruguay expressed the view that provisions on commercial quality should not be included in the standards, as these should address primarily the need of governments to regulate the food safety aspects and essential quality requirements. In the framework of WTO, reference was made to international standards in their entirety, irrespective of whether or not they covered commercial quality in specific sections.
20. The Delegation of Mexico felt that it was not possible to decide on the opportunity of retaining the appendices to commodity standards at this stage, as all the implications should be considered carefully; in particular, trade barriers might be created if no reference existed under Codex on non-essential commercial aspects.
21. As the statement proposed by CCGP on the application and status of non-essential quality criteria referred to the WTO Agreements, the Committee felt that clarification would be required on its implications under SPS and TBT and asked the Secretariat to seek the advice of WTO in this respect. The Committee agreed that further consideration of this issue would be required in the light of such advice and following the recommendations of the Commission on this issue.
