The Codex Alimentarius Commission has adopted a new strategic plan for the period 2020-2025 to advance the mandate of Codex for the next five years, underpinning the high priority for food safety and quality that Members and the parent bodies FAO and WHO envisage for Codex in carrying out its responsibilities and unique purpose to protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in the food trade.

The plan highlights a new focus on promoting the relevance and use of Codex standards by governments and others, recognizing the extent to which Codex standards play a fundamental role in trade facilitation. Raising awareness and exploring how the use and impact of Codex standards could be measured will contribute to developing standards best tailored to the needs of countries in different parts of the world.

“’Where the world comes together to create food safety and quality standards that protect everyone everywhere’ is the vision statement in the Codex Strategic Plan adopted this week”, said Steve Wearne, UK, one of the Vice-chairpersons who together with Mariam Eid (Vice-chairperson, Lebanon) guided the work up to the Commission in Geneva.

left to right: Mariam Eid, Steve Wearne, Guilherme da Costa, Tom Heilandt

Regional Kick-off

Work to plan activities and support implementation will kick off at the first of the meetings of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committees which will take place from September 2019 in each of the six Codex regions around the world. “We will be addressing topics from how to prioritise issues for standardisation, to securing a robust science base, and from tracking the use and impact of Codex standards to building sustainable Codex infrastructure at the national and regional level”, said Wearne.

Work at the regional level will then pass back to the Executive Committee to distil issues down into a coherent workplan for the first part of the new strategy period.  “This is where the real work starts!”, he said. 

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Codex Strategic Plan 2020-2025 (REP 19/EXEC2, Appendix II)