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Codex Alimentarius
 
http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.jsp
What is Codex Alimentarius Commission?
The Codex Alimentarius Commission based in Rome, Italy, is an
international organization jointly created in 1961 by the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health
Organization (WHO) of the United Nations as a Food Standards
Program.
The mission of the Codex Alimentarius Commission is to set
international food standards that help governments to achieve
adequate consumer protection. The commission helps to raise the
awareness of governments on food safety issues and serves as a
point of reference for food safety standards and food
regulations. Codex also helps facilitate international trade in
foods by preventing unscientific restrictions while considering
differences in tradition, culture and legal systems among
countries. The commission develops principles of a general
nature as well as specific recommendations for certain food
products.
Principle objectives of the Codex Alimentarius Commission:
protecting the health of consumers
ensuring fair practices in the food trade
drawing world attention to the field of food quality and safety
The Codex Alimentarius Commission consists of numerous
committees: 9 general subject committees, 13 commodity
committees, 3 ad hoc intergovernmental task forces (food derived
from biotechnology, animal feeding and fruit and vegetable
juices), as well as 6 regional coordinating committees, which
were established to help identify priorities and issues in
specific regions. In eight of them Croatia actively participates
What is Codex Alimentarius?
The Codex Alimentarius (Latin, meaning Food Law or Code) is a
collection of international food standards adopted by the
Commission and presented in a uniform manner. The Codex
Alimentarius includes two types of standards, those for specific
commodities and general standards that are not food specific.
Codex standards for commodities include information such as
description and composition of the food, hygienic and weight
standards, and labeling. General standards or recommendations
that are not food specific have been developed for food
labeling, food additives, contaminants, methods of analysis and
sampling, food hygiene, nutrition and foods for special dietary
uses, food import and export inspection and certification
systems, residues of veterinary drugs in foods, and pesticide
residues in foods. Standards can be revised when new scientfic
knowledge emerges.
The WTO Agreement refers to the Codex Alimentarius as a point of
reference in cases of disputes over non-tariff trade barriers
and whether certain trade restictions have a legitimate
scientific basis. The WTO Agriment on the Application on
Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS) and the Agreement on
Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) recognize the Codex
Alimentarius standards as standards based on scientific evidence
and therefore regard them as appropriate recommendations against
which countries’ trade restrictions can be measured.
WTO - the World Trade Organization
Membership of the Commission is open to all Member Nations and
Associate Members of FAO and/or WHO, which are interested in
international food standards. The current membership includes
165 countries.
The Republic of Croatia, as member country, has joined the work
of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1994.
CODEX CONTACT POINT
To facilitate continuous contact with member countries, the
Commission, in collaboration with national governments, has
established country Codex Contact Points and many member
countries have National Codex Committees to coordinate
activities nationally.
The Croatian Standards Institute was appointed Codex Contact
Point in Croatia in 1994.
e-mail:
,
Hrvatski zavod za norme,
Ulica grada Vukovara 78,
10000 Zagreb,
Tel: +385 1 610 60 95,
Fax: +385 1 610 93 21
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