37. At its 22nd Session, the Codex Alimentarius Commission agreed that the Committee should not undertake the elaboration of a generic official certificate per se, but requested it to consider a discussion paper addressing general guidelines and criteria for official certificates.[13] The paper for discussion under Agenda Item 6 had been prepared by Australia on this basis. At the suggestion of the Delegation of the United Kingdom (author country for Agenda Item 7), the Committee decided to consider these two items together.
38. The Committee welcomed the proposals put forward in the two papers. It stressed that Guidelines should define carefully the responsibilities of the commercial parties and competent authorities involved in the preparation and issuance of certificates. Moreover, it agreed that certification was not always necessary and that there was a continued danger of a proliferation of certificates, adding to the costs to the food trade and to the competent authorities. It was proposed that model certificates could be drafted on the basis of related commodity groupings. The possibility of transmission of certificates or the information contained therein by electronic means or via the Internet was also stressed. One Delegation proposed that the English language, together with other languages as appropriate, should be used for all certificates.
39. In regard to the Discussion Paper on Rules Relating to the Production and Issuance of Certificates, it was agreed that the contents of the papers needed rearrangement in order to combine it with the other document.
40. The Committee agreed to recommend to the Executive Committee that work be started on the Guidelines and Criteria for Official Certificate Formats, based on commodity-specific certificates and incorporating Rules Relating to the Production and Issuance of Certificates. Subject to the Executive Committee’s approval, the Committee requested the Delegations of Australia and the United Kingdom to jointly prepare a draft for consideration at the Committee’s next session.
