International Council for Grocery Manufacturers Association (ICGMA)
Staff Report
CodexCommittee on Food Import Export Inspection and Certification Systems
Surfers Paradise, Australia
1-5 March 10, 2010
The 18th session of the Codex Committee on Food Import Export Inspection and Certification (CCFICS) was held in Surfers’ Paradise, Australia, 1-5 March 2010. The Chair of CCFICS is Greg Reed, Executive Director of the Australia Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS). ICGMA was represented by Kim Leighton, Australia Food andGrocery Council (as head of delegation) and Peggy Rochette, Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA).
CCFICS is the Codex committee directly responsible for basic import/export infrastructure and this session focused primarily on two important guidance documents:Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Foreign on-site Audits and Inspections and Proposed Draft Principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems.
Agenda Items and Status
Guidance on Foreign Audits and Inspections. Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Assessments of Foreign Official Inspection and Certifications SystemsCCFICS was advanced to the Commission at Step 5/8 for adoption. ICGMA has participated in the elaboration of these guidelines with specific attention on the need to ensure protection of confidential commercial information. The guidance should be useful in clarifying responsibilities and appropriate process and procedure for government to government systems based assessments. While it recognizes that establishment visits may be a component of assessments, the guidance underscores the need to identify this in the planning process and to establish clear plans for responsibilities and notifications. It underscores the importance of protecting confidential information. When adopted, the guidance will become an annex to the Codex Guidelines for the Design, Operation, Assessment and Accreditation of Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CAC/GL 26-1997.
Guidance for National Food Control Systems. In 2007, Australia introduced new work intended to provide a framework to assist governments to develop and operate a national food control systems for food safety. Previous CCFICS work had been limited to the import and export infrastructure. This new guidance is intended to incorporate some of the concepts previously developed but broaden the scope to cover the entire food chain. This new work was approved by the Commission in July 2009 and a physical working group was held in August in Miami. Even following the CCFICS session, the guidance remains in the very preliminary drafting stage and was returned to Step two to be forwarded to a working group scheduled to meet in January 2011. ICGMA will monitor the elaboration of the document but, considering it will focus on the design and implementation of government infrastructure, it is not currently apparent it will have significant implications on operations or trade.
Certification. CCFICS noted that both the Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products and the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products had been requested to review existing commodity standards for export certification and modify them for consistency with the generic standard adopted in 2009.
CCFICS also noted the outcome of the Export Certification Roundtable held the previous week under the auspices of the APEC Partnership Training Institute Network (PTIN). The PTIN had recommended that CCFICS consider additional work on attestations for export certification. The United States delegation offered to draft a discussion document in that regard for discussion at the 19th session.
Traceability. The 17th session of CCFICS had requested the Codex Regional Coordinating Committees to consider the need for additional Codex guidance on traceability/product tracing. Codex adopted Principles for Traceability/Product Tracing as a Tool within a Food Inspection and Certification System in 2006 but no consensus for further work on guidance could be reached at that time. The Commodity Committees will meet in 2010 and, consequently, recommendations and further work on this subject will be considered by CCFICS in 2011.
Workshop on Electronic Certification. CCFICS delegates were provided demonstrations of electronic certification systems in use or development by NZ, Australia, EC, US and others. These have been developed to provide direct electronic data exchange directly between governments, reducing reliance on paper-based export certificate and will enhance traceability and security of documentation. These systems are currently in use only for products of animal origin or commodities or or for limited trading partners but active efforts are underway to expand product and global coverage.
Next session. The next session of CCFICS is expected to be held 17-21 October 2011. .
More Information. The official report of the meeting can be found on the Codex Alimentarius website.
ICGMA Contacts for CCFICS:
Kim Leighton:
Peggy Rochette
ICGMA Report
CCFICS
March 10, 2010
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