Introduction
1. The Ninth Session of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission was held at FAO Headquarters, Rome, from 6 to 17 November 1972. The session was attended by 301 participants, including the representatives and observers of 61 countries and observers from 26 international organizations (see Appendix I for List of Participants).
2. The Commission was Presided over by its Chairman, Mr. G. Weill (France), and its three Vice-Chairmen, Dr. N.A. de Heer (Ghana), Mr. A. Miklovicz (Hungary) and Mr. G.R. Grange (U.S.A.). The Joint Secretaries were Mr. G.O. Kermode and Mr. H.J. McNally (FAO) and Dr. J. Munn (WHO).
3. The Ninth Session of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission was convened by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO, and was opened, on behalf of both Directors-General, with a speech of welcome by Dr. M. Ganzin, Director, Food Policy and Nutrition Division.
4. Dr. Ganzin referred to the expanding interest in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, as shown by the fact that ten more countries had become Members of the Commission since the Commission's eighth session, bringing the current membership of the Commission up to 98 countries. He especially welcomed the representatives of the new Members of the Commission and also the representatives of observer countries participating for the first time at a session of the Commission. He expressed the hope that the observer countries would become Members of the Commission. He also referred to the encouraging response received to-date from a considerable number of Member Governments concerning acceptance of or action under way or contemplated regarding the Recommended Standards which had, so far, been sent to governments for acceptance.
5. Dr. Ganzin also informed the Commission that an increasing number of requests for information, advice, guidance and assistance were being received by FAO from developing countries contemplating the strengthening of their food control services. Bearing in mind the needs of these countries and the wish of the Commission that its standards be accepted as widely as possible, the Director-General of FAO had carried out an internal reorganization of the units of FAO concerned with food standards and food control. The FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme had been transferred to the Food Policy and Nutrition Division. A Food Control Group and a Food Composition and Analysis Group had been joined with the FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme to constitute a Food Standards and Control Service. Dr. Ganzin stated that it was hoped that this Service, while continuing to meet the wishes of the Commission, would, at the same time, be in a better position to meet the needs of developing countries by assisting them on a national level to strengthen their food control services and legislation, to facilitate the implementation of the Commission's recommendations. The budgetary and working procedures of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme would continue as a separately identifiable activity within the Service and Division.
6. Reference was also made by Dr. Ganzin to the UN Conference on Human Environment, held in Stockhom in June 1972, and, in particular, to two resolutions of the Conference, of special interest to the Commission. These resolutions were as follows:
“It is recommended that increased support be given to the Codex Alimentarius Commission to develop international standards for pollutants in food and a Code of Ethics for international food trade and that the capabilities of FAO and WHO to assist materially and to guide developing countries in the field of food control be increased.”
“It is recommended that internationally coordinated programmes of research and monitoring of food contamination by chemical and biological agents be established and developed jointly by FAO and WHO taking into account national programmes, and that the results of monitoring be expeditiously assembled, evaluated and made available so as to provide early information on rising trends of contamination and of levels which may be considered undesirable or may lead to unsafe human intakes.”
7. Dr. Ganzin noted that the above two resolutions, together with other relevant information on the outcome of the Stockholm Conference, which were included in a Secretariat paper for the Commission, would be discussed at the appropriate point in the Commission's agenda. He particularly stressed that it would be very useful if the Commission could express its views on the question of a Code of Ethics, so that the Commission's views could be communicated to the UN Secretariat as soon as possible.
8. He mentioned that budgetary approval had been given for the holding of an FAO/WHO Food Standards Regional Conference in Africa in 1973 and that a proposal to hold a similar conference in Asia in the 1974/75 biennium had been included in the budgetary proposals to go before the governing bodies of both Organizations. He also indicated that since the last session of the Commission, a Food Control Seminar had been held in Teheran with the assistance of UNICEF and that another was scheduled to be held early in 1973 in Beirut. He added that it was hoped that it would be possible to hold, early in 1973, a Food Control Seminar in West Africa for members of the food control services in a number of the French-speaking countries of the region. It was also hoped to hold similar seminars in other parts of the world.
9. Dr. Ganzin concluded by paying tribute to the retiring Chairman, Mr. G. Weill (France), who had been intimately and actively associated with the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission since its establishment, and also to the other retiring members of the Executive Committee.
10. The Chairman thanked Dr. Ganzin for having opened the session and for his interesting remarks both in relation to the work of the Commission itself and in relation to action contemplated within the new Food Standards and Control Service in assisting developing countries in the strengthening of their food control services, to enable them to be in a better position to accept and implement the standards recommended by the Commission. In this connection, he reminded the Commission that this was the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, and that when the Commission held its first session in 1963, some 30 countries, almost all of which were developed countries, were Members of the Commission. Membership had trebled since that time, and of the 98 countries now Members of the Commission, some two-thirds of them were developing countries. It was appropriate therefore, in the light of this development, that increasing attention should be given to the needs of the developing countries in relation to the work of the Commission. The Executive Committee had also stressed the need for this.
11. The Chairman agreed that the replies received to-date from governments in regard to acceptance of the Recommended Standards of the Commission or on action being taken or contemplated by governments were very encouraging, and showed the importance attached by governments to the work of the Commission. Some of the replies indicated in great detail the action being taken in connection with the Recommended Standards. The work of other international organizations in the field of food standards and in the harmonization of food legislation also attested to the basic importance being attached to the standards being developed by the Commission, and more recently, some of the recommendations made by the UN Conference on Human Environment, held in Stockholm was further evidence of the importance attached to the Commission's work. The Chariman stressed the important role of WHO in the work of the Food Standards Programme and expressed confidence that the re-organization in FAO, to which Dr. Ganzin had referred, would promote the aims of the Programme in the fullest possible way.
12. During the session, the Commission elected Mr. A. Miklovicz (Hungary) as Chairman of the Commission to serve from the end of the Ninth Session until the end of the Tenth Session. The Commission also elected Dr. D.G. Chapman (Canada), Dr. E. Matthey (Switzerland) and Dr. E. Méndez (Mexico) as Vice-Chairmen of the Commission to serve from the end of the Ninth Session until the end of the Tenth Session.
13. The Commission elected from the Members of the Commission representatives for the following geographic locations in the Executive Committee, to hold office from the end of the Ninth Session to the end of the Eleventh Session of the Commission, in accordance with Rule III.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission: Africa -Tunisia; Asia - Thailand; Europe - Federal Republic of Germany; Latin America -Brazil; North America - U.S.A.; South-West Pacific - Australia.
14. The Commission appointed Dr. H. Woidich (Austria) as Coordinator for Europe in accordance with Rules II.4(a) and II.4(b) to serve in that capacity from the end of the Ninth Session until the end of the Twelth Session of the Commission. The Commission expressed its appreciation for the excellent work which had been accomplished by the retiring Coordinator for Europe, Dr. R. Wildner (Austria), who was ineligible for reelection in this capacity, having served two consecutive terms.
15. the Commission adopted the provisional agenda with a slight re-arrangement in the order of items to be discussed.
