WORLD TRADE G/SPS/W/84
8October 1997
ORGANIZATION(97-4275)
Original: English Committee onSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures
CLASSIFICATION OFREFERENCES TOCODEX TEXTS
Request from theCodex Alimentarius Commission
Thefollowing letter andattachment, dated 29September 1997, havebeenprovided tothe
Chairman oftheCommittee bytheSecretariat oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission.
_______________
TheTwenty-second Session oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission meeting inGeneva inJune
thisyearhasrequested clarification from yourCommittee onhowitwould differentiate "standards,
guidelines andother recommendations" inrelation totheimplementation oftheSPSAgreement by
WTO Members. Ontheinstructions oftheCommission, Iamwriting tocalltheSPSCommittee 's
attention totheCommission 'sdiscussion ofthisissue. Therelevant paragraphs ofthereports ofboth
theCommission andtheExecutive Committee areattached tothisletter (Attachment 1).
Codex textscover averywiderange ofsubject matters. Codex general standards, commodity
standards andcodes ofpractice, guidelines andrecommendations varywidely incontent, withmany
provisions which could beconsidered SPS-related measures. Most oftheother content oftheseCodex
documents could beconsidered asTBT-related measures.
During theTwenty-second Session oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission, questions were
alsoraised inrelation totheusewhich might bemade ofCodex regional standards andrelated texts
under theWTO Agreements (ALINORM 97/37, paragraph 15-Attachment 1).These standards and
related textsarelisted inAttachment 2.
Itisourunderstanding thatyourCommittee, inanticipation ofthiscorrespondence, determined
atitslastmeeting (July 1997) thattheseissues would beaddressed atthesametime. Wealsounderstand
thattheWTO andtheSPSCommittee arecurrently discussing further theinterpretation ofvarious
provisions oftheSPSAgreement. These deliberations anddiscussions include WTO considerations
oftheSPSprovisions inlightofmatters deemed bymembers tobeviolations oftheSPSprovisions,
along withfurther discussions byyourCommittee. Inviewofthis,itmaybepremature atthispoint
intimeforadefinitive response, butinlightoftherequest oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission
Iwould beverygrateful ifyourCommittee could provide anycurrent clarification onhowitwould
differentiate Codex standards, guidelines andother recommendations, andonthestatus which itwould
assign toCodex regional standards andrelated textsintheimplementation oftheSPSAgreement.G/SPS/W/84
Page2
Attachment 1:Extracts from theReports oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission
andtheExecutive Committee oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission
A. Codex Alimentarius Commission, 22nd Session 1997, ALINORM 97/37
MATTERS RELATING TOTHE IMPLEMENTATION OFTHE WTO AGREEMENTS
ONTHE APPLICATION OFSANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES
AND THE AGREEMENT ONTECHNICAL BARRIERS TOTRADE
(Agenda Item11)1
Review oftheStatus ofCodex Texts under theWTO Agreements
168. TheRepresentativeofWTOremindedtheCommissionthattheAgreementonTechnicalBarriers
toTrade (TBT Agreement) allowed WTO Members todeviate frominternational standards forvarious
reasons when Members considered thattheinternational standards were inappropriate totheir
circumstances. TheAgreement ontheApplication ofSanitary andPhytosanitary Measures (SPS
Agreement), ontheother hand, made specific reference toCodex textswithout providing anyclear
distinction between standards, guidelines andrecommendations. TheRepresentative alsoexpressed
aview thatthose Codex textsthatwere meant toapply onlywithin ageographic region would not
beparticularly relevant outside thatregion andthatother Codex textsorprovisions notintended for
application bygovernments butbycommercial partners would notberelevant under theSPSAgreement
either. Neither would guidelines intended fortheworking procedures oftheCodex Alimentarius
Commissionanditssubsidiarybodies.TheRepresentativehowevernotedthattheseissuescouldformally
beclarified through twopossible ways: either intheformofdecisions byWTO Panels resulting from
individual dispute cases orbyrequesting clarification from theSPSCommittee.
169. Several delegations stressed thattheCommission should preserve itsright andauthority to
pursue itswork based upon itsownpriorities. Itwasalsostated thattheCommission should beable
todifferentiate between different categories oftexts, suchasstandards, guidelines andrecommendations,
onthebasis ofthestatutory objectives ofCodex. TheDelegation oftheUnited States andothers
recommended thattheCommittee onGeneral Principles initiate work onthetypeandnature ofCodex
textsinrelation totheirintended usebyGovernments.
170. Inregard totheopportunity ofdeleting those Codex texts notintended tobeapplied by
governments forthepurpose ofprotecting thehealth ofconsumers orforensuring fairpractice inthe
foodtrade, onedelegation noted thattheelaboration ofsuchtextsshould bediscouraged infuture.
171. TheCommission recognized theviews expressed inparagraph 9oftheALINORM 97/7and
endorsed thefollowing recommendations:
Inviewoftheconfusion created bytheuseoftheterm"advisory" andasthetermcannot
bedefined satisfactorily andtheSPSandTBTAgreements donotappear todistinguish between
mandatory andadvisory texts, itsusewithin theCodex framework should bediscouraged, as
wellastheuseoftheterm"mandatory";
1ALINORM 97/7; ALINORM 97/4, paragraphs 15-20G/SPS/W/84
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AllCodex textsspecific tothecontrol offoodmoving ininternational trade should be
elaboratedwiththesamedegreeofrigourandscientificjustificationwhereappropriateasCodex
standards;
Codex standards oranyother textswhich establish quality criteria forproducts additional
toessential quality factors should clearly indicate thatsuchcriteria areintended forvoluntary
application bycommercial partners, asfollows: "This textisintended forvoluntary application
bycommercial partners andnotforapplication bygovernments.";
Thedegree ofexplanatory material contained inCodex textsshould beadequate forthe
interpretation ofthetext;and
ThatCodexCommitteesreviewthecodes,guidelinesandrelatedtextsundertheirresponsibility
inorder todetermine towhatextent theyshould beredrafted asstandards.
172. TheCommission alsoconcurred withtheviewoftheExecutive Committee2anddecided to
request theSPSCommittee through theSecretariat toclarify howtheSPSCommittee would differentiate
"standards, guidelines andother recommendations" inrelation totheimplementation oftheSPS
Agreement byWTO Members.
173. TheRepresentative oftheWTO expressed concern thatinsufficient understanding oftheWTO
Agreements wasapparently hampering theadoption ofCodex standards andguidelines atatimewhen
WTO Members, andespecially developing countries, hadanimmediate needforCodex textstoassist
them tofulfil theirobligations under theWTO. TheRepresentative urged increased involvement of
allCommission members inthework oftheWTO, inparticular, through theirparticipation inthework
oftheSPSCommittee.
B. Executive Committee oftheCodex Alimentarius Commission, 44th Session 1997,
ALINORM 97/4
MATTERS RELATING TOTHE IMPLEMENTATION OFTHE WTO AGREEMENTS
ONTHE APPLICATION OFSANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES
AND THE AGREEMENT ONTECHNICAL BARRIERS TOTRADE
(Agenda Item5)3
Review oftheStatus ofCodex Texts under theWTO Agreements
15. TheExecutive Committee wasoftheopinion thatatleastasfarasCodex wasconcerned
differences wereintended intheapplication ofstandards andtheapplication ofother (Codex) texts.
There wassome uncertainty astohowthese other textswould behandled within theframework of
WTO. Itproposed thattheCommission request theSPSCommittee through theSecretariat toclarify
howtheSPSCommittee would differentiate "standards, guidelines andother recommendations" in
relation totheimplementation oftheSPSAgreement byWTO Members.
2ALINORM 97/4, paragraph 15
3ALINORM 97/7G/SPS/W/84
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16. TheExecutive Committee noted thefiverecommendations made bytheCodex Committee on
General Principles ascontained inparagraph 8oftheworking paper. Itproposed thattheCommission
endorse these recommendations withthefollowing amendment tobemade tothethirdofthese:
Codex standards oranyother textswhich establish quality criteria forproducts additional to
essential quality factors should clearly indicate thatsuchcriteria areintended forvoluntary
application bycommercial partners, asfollows: "This textisintended forvoluntary application
bycommercial partners andnotformandatory application bygovernments."
17. TheExecutiveCommitteealsostatedthatinregardtotheelaborationorrevisionoftextsintended
toguideinternalworkingarrangements(paragraph9oftheworkingpaper)theseshouldnotbeconsidered
asstandards, guidelines orrecommendations forthepurposes ofeither theSPSortheTBTAgreements.
18. TheExecutive Committee discussed whether ornottexts notintended forapplication by
governments should continue tobeconsidered byCodex butcame tonofirmconclusion onthematter.
Attachment 2:ListofAdopted Codex Regional Texts
Title Reference Year
Codex Standard forVinegar (European Regional) CX/STAN 162 1987
Codex Standard forMayonnaise (European Regional) CX/STAN 168 1989
Guidelines fortheDesign ofControl Measures for
Street-Vended Foods inAfrica (African Regional)CAC/GL 1997
Recommended International Code ofHygienic
Practice forPreparation andSaleofStreet-Vended
Foods (Latin America andCaribbean Regional)CAC/RCP 43 1995