1. The Seventh Session of the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission was held at FAO Headquarters, Rome, from 7 to 17 April 1970. The session was attended by 276 participants, including the representatives and observers of 60 countries and observers from 26 international organizations (see Appendix I for List of Participants).
3. The Assistant Director-General conveyed the best wishes of the Director-General of FAO, who was paying state visits to a number of countries in the Far East, for the success of the session. He welcomed, in particular, the new Members of the Commission and was pleased to see that the Codex Alimentarius Commission now had 74 Member Countries. He stressed the importance of the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in connection with the removal of some of the non-economic obstacles to international trade, and referred to the increasing interest in the work of the Commission by the developing countries, a number of which had requested advice, guidance and assistance in the preparation of sound national food legislation. The Assistant Director-General emphasized the very close and constructive relationship with WHO in implementing the aims of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme, and stated that this relationship was a very good instance of the effective partnership which could be achieved between UN agencies. He paid tribute to Mr. J.H.V. Davies, the retiring Chairman of the Commission, for the very valuable contribution he had made to the work of the Commission since its inception.
4. The Commission was presided over by its Chairman, Mr. J.H.V. Davies (United Kingdom) and its three Vice-Chairmen, Mr. I.H. Smith (Australia), Mr. E. Mortensen (Denmark) and Prof. Dr. O. Högl (Switzerland). The Joint Secretaries were Mr. G. O. Kermode and Mr. H. J. McNally (FAO) and Dr. C. Agthe (WHO).
5. During the session, the Commission elected Mr. G. Weill (France) as Chairman of the Commission to serve from the end of the Seventh Session until the end of the Eighth Session. The Commission also elected Dr. N.A. de Heer (Ghana), Mr. A. Miklovicz (Hungary) and Mr. G. R. Grange (United States of America) as Vice-Chairmen of the Commission to serve from the end of the Seventh Session until the end of the Eighth Session.
6. The Commission elected from the Members of the Commission representatives for the following geographic locations in the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, to hold office from the end of the Seventh Session to the end of the Ninth Session of the Commission in accordance with Rule III.1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission: Africa - Tunisia, Asia - Japan, Europe - Federal Republic of Germany, Latin America - Argentina, North America Canada, South-West Pacific - Australia.
7. The Chairman informed the Commission of the death last summer of Mr. H.V. Dempsey (Canada), who was a former Vice-Chairman of the Commission. He recalled the active rôle which Mr. Dempsey had played in the work of the Commission, both as Vice-Chairman and leader of the Canadian delegation, during his many years with the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The Commission observed a minute's silence in memory of Mr. Dempsey.
8. The Commission unanimously adopted the provisional agenda (document ALINORM 70/1), with a slight re-arrangement in the order of items, which had the effect of moving agenda item 18(c) forward to become agenda item 12.
