DEVELOPING NATIONAL OR REGIONAL POSITIONS / WRITTEN COMMENTS

AYA ORITOSECTION CHIEFINTERNATIONAL STANDARDS OFFICEFOOD SAFETY AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS DEPARTMENTMINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES OF JAPAN

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PURPOSES OF MY PRESENTATION

To understand:

I. How to establish and express a national position, drawing on Japan’s experiences;

II. How to develop written comments to express a national position effectively;

III. The importance of participation in informal regional meetings on the sidelines of Codex meetings; and

IV. The importance of communication 2

INTERVENTION AS DELEGATION

Intervention as delegation is essential for:

Expression of your national position

At the Codex meetings, intervention is made on behalf of your country (NOT on behalf of your department/ministry/agency etc.)

No intervention means no reflection in the report

Contribution to discussion at the Codex meetings

→ Reaching consensus 3

NATIONAL POSITION: HOW TO ESTABLISH?

Preparation for establishing your national position:

1. Reading

2. Analysis

3. Communication

1. READING

Working documents

Comments to the documents from other countries

Reports of the past sessions

Relevant documents and comments submitted at the past sessions if necessary (discussion papers, project documents, CRD, etc.)

Relevant section in Procedural Manual/ Standards

2. ANALYSIS

Convincing/ agreeable/ acceptable to your country?

If no, some changes/ amendments should be made?

Find your “friends” which share the same concern based on comments from other countries

3. COMMUNICATION

With other departments/ministries/agencies

If they are relevant to the topic

For sharing issues of importance in the country

With involved stakeholders

Discussion with relevant industry

Public meeting prior to the session

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IN CASE OF JAPANWORK FLOW BETWEEN SESSIONS

PWG immediately prior to the session

• EWG• Circular Letter for

Comments

The Consultative Committee on Codex Activities (January 2016)(For reporting of the session results)

37th Session(November 2015)

38th Session(December 2016)

• Invitation• Draft Agenda• Registration of

Participation

• Working documents for comments

• Submission of comments

The Consultative Committee on Codex Activities (November 2016)(For explaining the national position)

THE CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE ON CODEX ACTIVITIES

Held 4 to 6 times a year by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Consumer Affairs Agency, and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Consisting of 14 representatives appointed among academia, industries, producers and consumers

For providing information on codex activities and for hearing their comments to establish the national position

Open to the public (Distributed handouts and committee minutes are posted on the websites.)

IN CASE OF JAPANCOORDINATION AMONG DIFFERENT ORGANIZATIONS

Codex Secretariat Host Country(Subsidiary Committee)

Codex Contact Point (CCP) Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Consumer Affairs Agency

Food Safety Commission Ministry of Finance, National Tax Agency

• Ensuring food safety• Ensuring food safety during

production stages (agricultural products, fisheries, oils, etc.)

• Organic production

• Food Labelling

• Nutrition and Food for Special Dietary Uses

Risk assessmentAlcohol

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

IN CASE OF JAPANCOORDINATION IN MAFF

National CCP/Contact points of other relevant ministries/agenciesHost Country

(Subsidiary Committee)

Other relevant ministries/agencies

Relevant Industry

Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and FisheriesInternational Standards Office

MAFF

• Persons in charge of each subsidiary committee• Relevant office/division/department

Make a mailing list of each subsidiary committee and update periodically

Support for persons who are not familiar with Codex works

NATIONAL POSITION: HOW TO EXPRESS?

Make a verbal intervention at the meeting

Otherwise, your position will not be reflected in the report

Prepare detailed texts for intervention, assuming for the worst case

Submit written comments on time

So that Chair, Secretariat and other delegations can understand your position more easily and correctly

Would be distributed as working documents or CRDs

WRITTEN COMMENTS

Comments should be made in line with “General Guidance for the Provision of Comments”

For amendments, accompanied by their related rationale

Preferably scientifically sound

In terms of Codex dual mandates

As simple as possible

Do not reproduce the complete document

GENERAL GUIDANCE FOR THE PROVISION OF COMMENTS

In order to facilitate the compilation and prepare a more useful comments’ document, Members and Observers, which are not yet doing so, are requested to provide their comments under the following headings:

(i) General Comments

(ii) Specific Comments

Specific comments should include a reference to the relevant section and/or paragraph of the document that the comments refer to.

When changes are proposed to specific paragraphs, Members and Observers are requested to provide their proposal for amendments accompanied by the related rationale. New texts should be presented in underlined/bold font and deletion in strikethrough font.

In order to facilitate the work of the Secretariats to compile comments, Members and Observers are requested to refrain from using colour font/shading as documents are printed in black and white and from using track change mode, which might be lost when comments are copied / pasted into a consolidated document.

In order to reduce the translation work and save paper, Members and Observers are requested not to reproduce the complete document but only those parts of the texts for which any change and/or amendments is proposed.

WRITTEN COMMENTS: EXAMPLE

The minimum weight for “Extra” Class is 90 g, for Class I is 70 g and Class II is 65 gRationale:

Japan is of the view that minimum size should not be specified because the minimum size depends on the variety and the classification should not be determined by size.

PROPOSED DRAFT CODEX STANDARD FOR KIWIFRUIT (CX/FFV 15/19/7-Add.1)

3. Provisions concerning sizingThe minimum weight for “Extra” Class is 90 g, for Class I is 70 g and Class II is 65 g

Hayward Hybrids between A. chinensis and A.rufa

NATIONAL POSITION: HOW TO EXPRESS IF NO DELEGATION CAN PARTICIPATE?

No intervention at the meeting

No communication with your “friends” who share the same concern at the meeting

“Chairpersons should also ensure that the written comments, received in a timely manner, of members and observers not present at the session are considered by the Committee and that all issues are put clearly to the Committee.”(but no effect…..)

You should look for other opportunities to express your national position

REGIONAL POSITION: INFORMAL MEETINGS OF THE CCASIA MEMBER COUNTRIES

Led by the Coordinator for Asia

On the sidelines of Codex meetings

To share member countries’ positions

With a not high attendance rate

Little importance for the member countries?

THE IMPORTANCE OF PARTICIPATION IN INFORMAL REGIONAL MEETINGS FOR CODEX

∙∙∙NO, because

Expression of your national position before the session

Identification of common interests and concerns among the member countries (You can find “friends”)

More challenging to formulate “one regional position”, but a step to reach consensus at the Codex meetings

Face-to-face communication

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Thank you for your attention