Codex Alimentarius
See also related sub-folders in the
Biosafety/Analysis
section:
Precautionary
Principle
Scientific Expertise
Given the very substantial responsibilities of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission,
the political stakes, and their economic ramifications, its somewhat
forbidding mode of functioning is to a considerable extent unavoidable. It
reflects the also highly procedural nature of its counterparts at the
national level. The well developed Web site of the
Codex Alimentarius is of great
assistance in understanding this complex organization.
"Understanding the Codex"
provides a condensed overview of the mandate and the functioning of the
Codex whereas the
Procedural Manual (presently in its 14th edition 2004) contains the
Organization's statutes and all the key procedures, principles, guidelines
and definitions that allow it to function and to elaborate new standards and
related texts. The 2002 internal and external in-depth
Evaluation
represents the first such exercise in the Codex' more than forty years long
history.
The Codex Alimentarius has
over twenty sectoral (vertical) and cross-sectoral (horizontal) Committees
which usually meet every year and represent each a major international
conference with approx. 100 participating delegations and a certain number
of industry representatives, NGOs and academic observers (observers without
speaking privilege are provided a relatively liberal access).
The
Codex Committee on General Principles (CCGP) which usually meets in
Paris in the spring is the central body which negotiates and prepares
strategic issues that tend to be of a procedural as well as political
nature. Its conclusions have to be approved subsequently by the
legislative body, i.e. the Codex Alimentarius Commission (meeting usually
in July, alternatively in Rome and in Geneva).
For an analysis of the 2005 CCGP session see
BRIDGES Trade BioRes, published by the
International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development,
Geneva (http://www.ictsd.org/),
Vol. 5 No. 7, 15 April 2005.
In March 2003 the Codex Task Force on Food Derived from Biotechnology (TFFBT)
concluded a four year long arduous negotiation process and approved three
standards governing trade in GM food which were subsequently confirmed at
the 2003 Codex Alimentarius Commission, the legislating body of the Codex
framework (they have been published all in one volume:
http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/007/y5819e/y5819e00.htm
)
