232. The Commission noted the Secretariat’s report on the budget and expenditures for 2000/2001 and on the budget for the current biennium 2002/2003. It also noted that the expenditures associated with the FAO/WHO Evaluation of Codex and Other FAO and WHO Work on Food Standards amounted to US$ 682,000 of which US$ 100,000 came from the Codex budget, the remainder being funded directly by FAO and WHO.
233. The Commission noted that the budget proposals for 2004/05 proposals represented a net increase in the Codex Budget of around 23% as a response to the Evaluation. The main features of the increase were:
Secretary post remains at D-1;
An additional P-5 officer in the Codex Secretariat from the Codex budget plus an additional P-5 officer seconded from WHO;
Up-grade of the current P-2 Food Standards Officer to P-3;
No Standards Management Committee;
Funding for annual meetings of the Commission and six-monthly meetings of the Executive Committee together with funding for the participation of members of the Executive Committee to its meetings;
Increased Non-Staff human resources for consultants/facilitators and legal review of texts.
234. The Commission also noted that significant additional resources had been allocated to the Codex-related work of risk assessment activities carried out by JECFA, JMPR, JEMRA and ad hoc FAO and WHO expert bodies, as well as for capacity building. It was noted that the above proposals required final confirmation by the Thirty-second session of FAO Conference in November/December 2003.
235. The Commission further noted that the World Health Assembly had called upon WHO to reallocate resources for its activities related to the setting of food standards based on the Codex Alimentarius with special attention to least developed countries and that the budget adopted by the Assembly in May 2003 provided for increased resources also in the area of risk assessment.
236. The Commission expressed its appreciation to FAO and WHO for their positive response to the Evaluation Report, but noted that there should be continued support for the Codex and Codex-related work in the parent Organizations also in the future, and that the further strengthening of the Codex Secretariat, including the number of professional officers as well as the seniority of its staff, needed to be addressed.
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[107] ALINORM 03/26/15.
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