§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of places on the Codex Alimentarius Commission are currently occupied by representatives of commercial companies operating businesses related to the supply, processing and sale of agricultural products and derivatives; and what measures are proposed to limit the influence of companies operating businesses related to the supply, processing and sales of agricultural products and derivatives on the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
§ Mr. SoamesThe Codex Alimentarius is an inter-governmental body and thus the decisions reached 585W are those reached by Governments. Generally speaking, official representation at meetings is thus by Government officials. There are, however, no rules on the composition of delegations from countries. Normally trade and consumer representatives are present at Codex meetings either as advisers in national delegations, at the invitation of the Government concerned, or as observers representing international trade or consumer organisations that have been recognised by Codex.
I see no need to limit the influence of trade, or consumer representation on matters considered at Codex meetings.
§ Mr. DenhamTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what measures are proposed to ensure an increased representation by independent consumer, environment and public health representatives at full meetings of the Codex Alimentarius Commission; and if she will list those matters which are currently directly determined by(a) the Government of the United Kingdom and (b) the official institutions of the European Union which will no longer be determined by these institutions under the terms of the sanitary and hypto-sanitary measures in the current draft of the GATT agreement.
§ Mr. SoamesRepresentation at Codex meetings by independent consumer, environment and public health representatives is already possible, at their own expense, and I know of no measures intended to increase this.
The GATT agreement will bring with it a subsidiary agreement—the sanitary and phytosanitary agreement—whereby the standards agreed by Codex will be regarded as the international norm in cases of trade disputes that come forward for adjudication under GATT dispute settlement procedures. Nevertheless, individual countries, and the European Union, would still be free to set their own standards. In the event of a trade dispute, countries imposing more rigorous standards would have to demonstrate that they were justified scientifically.