4. The delegation of India reiterated its opinion that developing countries needed time to initiate procedures for the application of various final Codex texts elaborated by the Committee, including the Guidelines for the Design, Operation, Assessment and Accreditation of Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems.[3] The Committee noted that the Codex Committee on General Principles would be considering special or differential treatment for developing countries in the application of Codex standards, guidelines and related texts at its next session.
5. The Committee noted the offer made by the delegation of Canada at the 7th Session of the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables[4] to review the draft Code of Practice for the Quality Inspection and Certification of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables[5] in the context of CCFICS and other international documentation in order to evaluate the need for a Code specific to such produce. The delegation of Canada informed the Committee that the review of such documentation (i.e., CCFICS, European Community, International Organization for Standardization) had commenced, and that their initial reaction was that a Code specific to fresh fruits and vegetables appeared to be justified. This view was supported by France, especially as related to quality, in addition to safety, provisions for fresh produce. The Code is currently being maintained at Step 7.
6. The representative of the World Trade Organization (WTO) informed the Committee that the request of the 22nd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission[6] to clarify how the WTO would differentiate standards, guidelines and other recommendations was ongoing, and would be further discussed at the next session of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures in March 1998.
Other Matters
7. The representative of World Health Organization (WHO) informed the Committee that WHO, in consultation with its Member States and other international organizations, was revising the International Health Regulations (IHR) to adapt them to the present volume of international traffic and trade and to take account of current trends in the epidemiology of communicable diseases, with a view to submitting proposals to the World Health Assembly in 1999. While IHR would remain based on the principle of maximum protection from the spread of disease of international public health importance with minimum interference with international trade and travel, the concept of syndrome notification was to replace the present disease notification scheme, which currently covered cholera, plague and yellow fever only.
8. Under the revised IHR, syndrome notification received by WHO would be assessed prior to being listed and would not be automatically listed in the Weekly Epidemiological Record, as was presently occurring with the disease-specific notifications under the present IHR. The revised IHR would allow WHO and the Member State concerned to jointly determine what control measures would be appropriate and identify which measures applied by other Member States would be deemed excessive or inappropriate. The revision of IHR was hoped to bring solutions to the issues of the reluctance of countries to report diseases for fear of sanctions and a lack of resources and health system capacity to deal with disease outbreaks.
9. In regard to the relationship between IHR and Codex texts, it was clarified that IHR formed an integral part of the global communicable disease monitoring and control system implemented by WHO, with a focus on the management of disease outbreaks of international public health importance, while existing Codex texts dealing with the microbiological hazards in foods mainly aimed at preventing foodborne diseases through the systematic implementation of hygienic control measures appropriate to the food operation in question. With regard to WHO’s authority and competence of judging the appropriateness of specific sanitary measures, the Committee was informed that the current IHR already included procedures for dispute settlement through the exercise of good offices by the Director-General of WHO. The Director-General of WHO had in fact provided guidance about the irrelevance of specific trade restriction measures in certain cases of large-scale outbreaks of foodborne diseases, namely cholera.
