WTO Countries Encouraged to Use Codex Alimentarius Standards as Benchmarks for National Standards
The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), created in 1963 by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, develops food standards, guidelines, and codes of practice to promote the coordination of international standards related to food.
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(Codex defines food as "any substance, whether processed, semi-processed or raw, which is intended for human consumption and includes drink, chewing gum and any substance which has been used in the manufacture, preparation or treatment of 'food' but does not include cosmetics or tobacco or substances used only as drugs." )
WTO Members Encouraged to Use Codex Standards as Benchmarks for National Standards
The World Trade Organization's Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) Agreement encourages member countries to use the standards set by Codex as "benchmarks" for their national food standards. However, the SPS Agreement allows governments to also use other standards as benchmarks.
National food standards set below and at Codex levels do not pose a problem, but having a higher standard than that found in Codex shifts the burden of proof in the event of a WTO dispute. If this standard were questioned in a WTO dispute, the country would have to justify scientifically why it requires a higher standard than that set by Codex.
Whatever the standards used, the SPS Agreement requires that they be based on scientific evidence, do not discriminate between countries, and are not disguised restrictions to trade.
(Codex committees draft food standards, codes of practice, and other guidelines related to Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Fish and Fishery Products, Food Hygiene, Milk and Milk Products, Food Additives, Contaminants in Food, Food Import & Export Certification & Inspection Systems, Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, and Food Labeling, among numerous other topics.)
(See ITT's Online Archives or 06/07/06 news, 06060725, for BP summary of U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service list of annual Codex standard setting activities.)
BP Note
The Codex Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements have caused some controversy, particularly within the alternative medicine community, for setting minimum and maximum recommended daily intake levels for vitamin and mineral supplements, based on scientific risk assessment.
Codex Alimentarius information available at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp
U.S. Codex Office material available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Regulations_&_Policies/Codex_Alimentarius/index.asp
WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary measure information available at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/sps_e/decisions06_e.htm