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Statement to the World Health Assembly on Codex, May 2003

Director-General’s Report on the Joint FAO/WHO Evaluation of the Work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
Statement by the International Special Dietary Foods Industry (ISDI) to the WHA, May 2003

Thank you Chair for this opportunity to address the members of the World Health Assembly on behalf of the International Special Dietary Foods Industries (ISDI).

In compliance with Codex Alimentarius, our members adhere to the highest food safety and nutrition standards in promoting sound nutrition for human health worldwide. Our association has actively supported and participated in Codex for the past 15 years. In this spirit, we welcome the Director-General’s report on the “Joint FAO/WHO evaluation of the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.” We agree with many of its recommendations on food safety and nutrition. ISDI believes that priority should be given to the following recommendations:

• Speeding up the work of Codex’s committees in providing scientific advice;
  
• Giving higher priority to setting science-based standards related to food safety, nutrition-related issues and health;
  
• Increasing the efficiency of Codex by ensuring that all committees and task force work is time-limited. (No standard should be permitted more than 5 years.)
  
• Focusing on emerging technologies. (ISDI again wishes to offer its technical experts to work with their counterparts at Codex to help speed progress in this area.)
  
• Improving coordination and distribution of work between WHO and FAO in their capacity building efforts.

ISDI also believes that sound steps be taken to ensure that Codex proceedings are scientifically-based. We therefore strongly support the following recommendations:

• The independence and transparency of Codex should be reinforced within FAO/WHO.
• Chairs should be selected according to certain criteria, and then trained and assessed.
• Without impinging on the rights of sovereign states, Codex should tighten checks on credentials to ensure that member governments send informed and appropriate representatives to committee meetings.
• NGOs delegates should have relevant scientific or technical qualifications and should not use Codex forums to block committee work or promote a particular interest.

We applaud WHO’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of this important body and look forward to continued cooperation and collaboration. Thank you, Chair, for your considerable efforts.

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