96. The Commission noted with satisfaction the progress which had been made in making facilities available in the Spanish language at Codex Committee sessions. Details of these facilities were set out in ALINORM 72/8. In addition to the information set out in this document, the Commission was pleased to learn that the Government of Hungary had provided interpretation facilities in Spanish at the session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling, held in Budapest from 12 to 18 September 1972. This was the first time the Government of Hungary had hosted this Committee.
97. The representative of Latin America on the Executive Committee (Argentina) stated that he was pleased at the progress being achieved, and stressed the need for Spanish-speaking countries to participate to a greater extent at sessions of the various Codex Committees, as this would, on the basis of present indications, be conducive to the provision of Spanish language facilities on a wider basis than at present. He stressed, however, as did the delegations of Cuba, Spain and Mexico, the need for providing the fullest possible facilities in Spanish at all Codex Committee sessions. The delegate of Mexico also referred to the need for providing the draft report in Spanish at Codex Committee sessions, in addition to interpretation facilities as this would enable any inaccuracies in the Spanish version of draft standards to be corrected by the technical experts at the session.
98. The Commission expressed the hope, as the Executive Committee had done, that all governments responsible for hosting Codex Committees would provide interpretation facilities in Spanish, in order to ensure the fullest and most effective participation in the work of the Commission by the Spanish-speaking countries. The Commission also noted that the Secretariat would continue to assist, as far as resources permitted, in the provision of documentation in Spanish. The Commission noted the statement of the delegate of New Zealand to the effect that the Government of New Zealand, which hosted the Codex Committee on Meat Hygiene, would provide interpretation facilities and would bear the cost of providing documentation in Spanish for the next session of that Committee. The Secretariat had provided the documentation in Spanish for the last session of the Committee, which was the first session, in view of the very wide interest in the work of the Committee, including, in particular, the interest of the South-American meat-exporting countries.
