. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/SPS/GEN/308
13 March 2002
(02-1312)
Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Original:  English
CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION
Summary Reports of Recent Meetings
CODEX COMMITTEE ON FOOD IMPORT AND EXPORT INSPECTION AND
CERTIFICATION SYSTEMS
(10th Session, Brisbane, Australia, 25 February–1 March 2002)
The Committee:(a) Forwarded the draft Guidelines for Food Import Control Systems to the 25
th Session of the
Codex Alimentarius Commission (June/July 2003) for final adoption;
(b) Agreed that a drafting group would revise the draft Guidelines for the Judgement of
Equivalence of Sanitary Measures Associated with Food Inspection and Certification Systems
for circulation, comment and further consideration at its next meeting;
(c) Agreed that a drafting group would prepare a discussion paper on the need for the further
elaboration of the Guidelines on the Judgement of Equivalence of Technical Regulations
Associated with Food Inspection and Certification Systems for circulation, comment and
further consideration at its next meeting;
(d) Returned the proposed draft Guidelines for the Utilization and Promotion of Quality
Assurance Systems to Meet Requirements in Relation to Food for reformulation by a drafting
group and further consideration at its next meeting;
(e) Returned the proposed draft Guidelines for the Exchange of Information in Food Control
Emergency Situations for revision by a drafting group and for circulation, comment andfurther consideration at its next meeting, and;
(f) Agreed that a working group would prepare a discussion paper on "traceability" for
circulation, comment and further consideration at its next meeting.G/SPS/GEN/308
Page 2
AD HOC CODEX INTERGOVERNMENTAL TASK FORCE ON FOODS DERIVED FROM
BIOTECHNOLOGY
(Third Session, Yokohama, 4-8 March 2002)
The Task Force:
(a) Agreed on amendments to the Draft Principles for the Risk Analysis of Foods Derived from
Modern Biotechnology, including provisions for product tracing for the purposes of
facilitating withdrawal of foods from the market when a risk to human health has been
identified or to support post-market monitoring, and submitted the draft to the 25th Session of
the Codex Alimentarius Commission (June/July 2003) for final adoption;
(b) Agreed to forward the Draft Guideline for th e Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods
Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants (including an Annex on the Assessment of Possible
Allergenicity) to the 25th Session of the Code x Alimentarius Commission for final adoption;
(c) Made a number of amendments to the Proposed Draft Guideline for the Conduct of Food
Safety Assessment of Recombinant-DNA Microorganisms in Food and agreed to submit thetext to the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission for adoption at the
intermediate step of the Codex Elaboration Procedure (Step 5);
(d) On the matter of traceability, recognized that  in addition to the applications specifically
referred to in the Principles for Risk Analysis, that there were other applications of product
tracing.  It agreed that such applications should be consistent with the provisions of the WTOSPS and TBT Agreements, and noted that work in these areas would be undertaken by other
Codex committees;
(e) Identified a number of methods for the identification or detection of genetic modification in
foods and agreed to transmit these methods for the consideration of the Codex Committee for
Methods of Analysis and Sampling.
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