1. This document sets out the strategic priorities for the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) and provides the basis for the elaboration of the Medium Term Plan for the period 2003-2007. The strategic vision and goals for Codex underpin the high priority attached to food safety by its parent organizations, the FAO and the WHO. The FAO Strategic framework for 2000-2015 accords high priority to promoting policy and regulatory frameworks for food at the international and national levels. Similarly the 53rd Session of the World Health Assembly recognized the need to highlight health considerations in international food trade and acknowledged the importance of the CAC for assuring the highest levels of consumer health protection. The resolution also urged WHO to work towards integrating food safety as one of its essential public health functions with the goal of developing sustainable, integrated food safety systems for the reduction of health risk along the entire food chain. The fundamental mandate of the CAC is to develop international standards and norms for consumer health protection and fair practices in the food trade.
2. The CAC has always operated in an environment of change and technological advancement. The growth in world food trade, advances in modern communication and increasing mobility of populations are all contributing to elevating the profile and significance of food safety and regulation. There is growing international concern related to a perceived emergence/increase in food-borne diseases. Consumers around the world are becoming more aware than ever about food safety issues and are seeking ever-greater assurances about the safety and quality of foods they eat. Innovation and the development of new processes (including modern biotechnology) are leading to the development of new products with specific medical, nutritional and functional attributes. In its endeavour to promote food safety and quality, the CAC needs to consider opportunities for strengthening partnerships with all stakeholders, in particular consumers and their representative organizations, at the global and national levels. A further development is the growing interest in organic foods, which are likely to capture a significant share of the international market in the future. It is also likely that developing countries will account for an increasing proportion of global food and agricultural trade. These developments, while exciting, also present new challenges (both safety and non safety) for the CAC and national governments.
3. The new recognition and status that Codex standards, guidelines and other recommendations acquired under the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement) also brought new challenges and responsibilities including the need to ensure that its standards and related texts are based on scientific principles and meet the needs and mandate of the organization. The WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade is also of great relevance given the significance of the provisions pertaining to product description, labelling, packaging and quality descriptors for consumer information and fair practices in trade. Although quality provisions are fundamentally driven by the market, the CAC has an important role in ensuring that provisions relating to quality are sound and based on the criteria of essentiality and do not constitute disguised barriers to trade.
4. These developments have generated renewed interest in the work of the CAC and have resulted in a substantial growth in membership of the organization with developing countries now accounting for a majority of total membership. Given the importance that the WTO attaches to international harmonization, there is now an even greater imperative for CAC and its members to ensure that the Organization maintains its pre-eminent status as the internationally recognized body for food standards and its norms are applied to the widest extent possible by all members as a basis for domestic regulation and international trade.