• Codex Alimentarius Commission
• International Plant Protection Convention (IIPC)
• International Office of Epizootics

Codex Alimentarius Commission

The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1962 to recommend minimum food safety standards in order to protect public health and ensure fairness in the food trade.  It now has a heightened role in the context of international trade as the WTO cites Codex as its international standard for on food safety issues. Codex has nine general committees developing standards for all commodities, 16 commodity-specific committees and five regional co-ordinating committees.  It has a mandate to:

• Protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in the food trade;
• Promote co-ordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organisations
• Determine priorities and guide the preparation of draft standards through and with the aid of appropriate organisations
• Finalise standards elaborated above and, after acceptance by governments, publish them in a Codex Alimentarius either as regional or world-wide standards; and
• Amend published standards, after appropriate survey in the light of developments’ Bridges Year 3, 4, May 1999, p. 2).

• Food standards for commodities
• Codes of hygienic or technological practice
• Pesticides evaluated
• Limits for pesticide residues
• Guidelines for contaminants
• Food additives evaluated
• Veterinary drugs evaluated

163 countries are members of Codex, however there are very few developing country representatives.  Consumer organisations argue that agricultural and pharmaceutical interests are disproportionately represented on the committees.

(Consumers International note several difficulties faced by consumers’ organisations wishing to participate in the committees, http://www.consumersinternational.org/newsletters/234/234-2-1.html
 

Indeed it is argued in some countries that the Codex standards do not offer as high a level of protection as national legislation and measures in excess of Codex provisions are promoted (Bridges, May 1999).  On the other hand, many developing countries argue that their interests are not represented and the Codex standards are too high (Henson and Loader, 2000: 20; Kwa, 1999).
 

International Plant Protection Convention (IIPC)

The International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) was formed to set phyto-sanitary standards and harmonise phyto-sanitary measures affecting trade.  The original convention established in 1952 but has been revised in 1979 and 1997.  In 1993 a secretariat was formed and the IPPC then began to set standards.  By mid 1999 there were eight standards and 14 further standards were being developed, but these do not relate to specific pests and are more like guidelines than specific standards.

http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FaoInfo/Agricult/AGP/AGPP/PQ/default.htm
 

International Office of Epizootics

The International Office of Epizootics, based in Paris, was formed in 1924 and now has 155 member countries. The main objectives of the OIE are to: 

• Inform Governments of the occurrence and course of animal diseases throughout the world, and of ways to control these diseases 
• Co-ordinate, at the international level, studies devoted to the surveillance and control of animal diseases 
• Harmonise regulations for trade in animals and animal products among Member Countries. 
• The International Animal Health Code for Mammals, Birds and Bees sets out the international standard as recognised by the SPS with specific standards for specific diseases (see http://www.oie.int/a_html.htm).