[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 41 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11031-11033]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-4849]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

[Docket No. 00-004N]

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Food and Drug Administration

[Docket No. 00N-0597]


Codex Alimentarius: Meeting of the Codex Committee on General 
Principles, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development: 
Meeting of the Ad Hoc Group on Food Safety

AGENCIES: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA; Food and Drug 
Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice; public meeting and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Food Safety, and the Food Safety and Inspection 
Service (FSIS), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); and the Food and 
Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS), are sponsoring a public meeting on March 22, 2000, to provide 
information and receive public comments on agenda items that will be 
discussed at the Fourteenth Session of the Codex Committee on General 
Principles, April 10-14, 2000, and to provide information and receive 
public comments on papers submitted and issues to be discussed at the 
Second Session of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development (OECD) Ad Hoc Group on Food Safety, scheduled for March 27-
28, 2000. Both groups are scheduled to meet in Paris, France. The co-
sponsors of the March 22nd public meeting recognize the importance of 
providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain background 
information on the General Principles Committee of the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission (CAC), and the Ad Hoc Task Force on Food Safety 
of the OECD, and to address issues coming before those bodies.

DATES: The public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 22, 2000, 
from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Comments must be received by April 24, 
2000.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Madison Room, 
Washington Plaza Hotel, 10 Thomas Circle, Massachusetts Avenue and 14th 
Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20005. Copies of the documents listed in 
the notice will be available for inspection at the office of the FSIS 
Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and 
Inspection Service, Room 102, Cotton Annex, 300 12th Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20250-3700, or the Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305), 
Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, 
MD 20852. The Codex documents will also be accessible via the World 
Wide Web at the following address: http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/economic/esn/codex/ccgp15/gp00 01e.htm. Copies of the United States' 
submission to the OECD compendium of national food safety systems will 
be available on the Internet at http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/
dms/fs-toc.html on approximately March 1, 2000. Send an 
original and two copies of comments to: FSIS Docket Clerk, Docket #00-
004N, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety

[[Page 11032]]

and Inspection Service, Room 102, Cotton Annex, 300 12th Street, SW, 
Washington, DC 20250-3700 or FDA/Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305), 
5630 Fishers Lane, Rm. 1601, Rockville, MD 20852. All comments 
submitted in response to this notice will be available for public 
inspection in the Docket Clerk's Office between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick J. Clerkin, Associate U.S. 
Manager for Codex, U.S. Codex Office, Food Safety and Inspection 
Service, Room 4861, South Building, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, 
Washington, DC, 20250; Telephone: (202) 205-7760; Fax: (202) 720-3157; 
or, for the OECD Ad Hoc Working Group on Food Safety, Lois Ann Beaver, 
Office of International Programs, FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, 15A16, 
Rockville, MD 20852; Telephone: (301) 827-4480; Fax: (301) 443-0235. 
Persons requiring a sign language interpreter or other special 
accommodations should notify Patrick J. Clerkin, telephone (202) 205-
7760; Fax: (202) 720-3157.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Codex Committee on General Principles

    Codex was established in 1962 by two United Nations organizations, 
the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health 
Organization (WHO). Codex is the major international organization for 
encouraging fair international trade in food and protecting the health 
and economic interests of consumers. Through adoption of food 
standards, codes of practice, and other guidelines developed by its 
committees, and by promoting their adoption and implementation by 
governments, Codex seeks to ensure that the world's food supply is 
sound, wholesome, free from adulteration, and correctly labeled. In the 
United States, USDA, FDA, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
manage and carry out U.S. Codex activities.
    The Codex Committee on General Principles was established to deal 
with such procedural and general matters as are referred to by the 
Codex Alimentarius Commission. Such matters have included the 
establishment of the general principles that define the purpose and 
scope of the Codex Alimentarius, the nature of Codex standards and the 
forms of acceptance by countries of Codex standards, and the 
development of guidelines for Codex committees.

Codex Issues To Be Discussed at the Public Meeting

    (1) Matters referred by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other 
Codex Committees; Document: CX/GP 00/2
    (2) Risk Analysis
     Working Principles for Risk Analysis; Documents: CL1999/
16GP, CX/GP 00/3, Government comments CX/GP00/3-Add.1
     Food Safety Objectives; Document: CX/GP 00/4
    (3) Measures intended to facilitate consensus; Document: CX/GP 00/5
    (4) Composition of the Executive Committee and related matters; 
Document: CX/GP 00/6
    (5) Review of the Statements of Principle on the Role of Science 
and the Extent to which Other Factors are taken into account; 
Documents: CX/GP 00/7 Role of science and other factors in relation to 
risk analysis
    (6) Revision of the Code of Ethics for International Trade in 
Foods; Documents: CL 1999/19-GP, CX/GP 00/8, Government comments CX/
GP00/8-Add.1
    (7) Consumer Participation in Codex Work and related matters; 
Documents: CX/GP 00/9, Government comments, CX/GP00/9-Add.1

OECD Ad Hoc Group on Food Safety

    The Ad Hoc Group on Food Safety convened for its first session 
January 24-25, 2000, in Paris at the Organization for Economic 
Cooperation and Development. This group was established by the OECD 
Council late last year in response to the request for reports on 
biotechnology and other aspects of food safety issued by the     G-8 
(Group of 7 largest economies in the world: US, Japan, Germany, France, 
UK, Italy, Canada and Russia) after its June 1999 Summit in Cologne. 
The Ad Hoc Group on Food Safety was formed to develop a report on 
national food safety systems, including how controversial issues 
related to biotechnology and other aspects of food safety are managed, 
and a report based on submissions from international organizations 
involved in food safety. These reports, in the form of compendia, as 
well as reports from the OECD Working Group on Harmonization of 
Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology and the OECD Task Force on Novel 
Foods and Feeds will be submitted to the G-8 in advance of the July, 
2000, Summit in Okinawa.
    On November 18, 1999, the OECD Council agreed that the mandate for 
the Ad Hoc Group on Food Safety, was to: (1) Supervise the compilation 
of a compendium of international food safety systems; (2) compile a 
compendium of national food safety systems; and (3) provide a report to 
the Council on the results of its work. Operational guidance indicated 
that the final report to the OECD Council should reflect the views of 
member countries, not the Secretariat, identify food safety activities 
without evaluations or policy recommendations, be finished by the end 
of April, 2000, and be based on current information without undertaking 
new work.
    Participants in the First Session of the Ad Hoc Group on Food 
Safety, which included 130 representatives from the 29 OECD member 
countries and five representatives from the EC Commission, with one 
Russian observer, met to design the program of work for the Ad Hoc 
Group on Food Safety. Representatives of WHO, FAO and WTO were also 
present as observers. The US delegation was co-led by USDA 
Undersecretary for Food Safety Catherine Woteki and FDA Commissioner 
Jane Henney, Deputy Commissioner Sharon Smith Holston, Robert Lake, and 
Lois Ann Beaver from FDA, Sally McCammon from USDA and Richard White 
from EPA. Members of the US Mission to the OECD present during the 
session included Ambassador Bondurant, Gary Larson, Peter O. Thomas and 
Breck Milroy.
    To guide its activities, the Ad Hoc Group elected a Bureau Chaired 
by E. Wermuth, The Netherlands, with USDA Undersecretary Woteki and K. 
Tomita, Japan, as Vice-Chairs.
    The Ad Hoc group adopted a program of work under which:
    (1) Countries would submit reports for a compendium of national 
food safety systems that would identify what is being done to address 
current and emerging food safety issues. The national reports should be 
5-10 pages in length, include factual information, and have a one-page 
synthesis identifying key principles, changes, and areas of continuing 
development, and an optional annex. Food quality, availability and 
costs, animal welfare and biodiversity were cited as emerging issues. 
It was agreed that member countries might address in their national 
reports how such non-scientific concerns are treated in national 
decision-making processes in the national reports. As envisaged by the 
Terms of Reference, the ``precautionary approach and principles'' will 
be addressed by member countries in their reports and in optional 
annexes of relevant references. Under the guidance of the Bureau, the 
Secretariat will present the information received on the

[[Page 11033]]

precautionary approach and principles in a structured manner to the 
Second Session of the Ad Hoc Group on Food Safety.
    (2) Selected international organizations (the World Health 
Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United 
Nations, the Office of International Epizootics, the World Trade 
Organization and the OECD) would contribute to a compendium of 
international food safety activities.
    The Draft reports from OECD members and from international 
organizations are due to the OECD Secretariat by the end of February, 
2000, in preparation for the Ad Hoc Group's second session, scheduled 
for March 27-28.
    The time-frame for completion of the work of the Ad Hoc Group on 
Food Safety is very short. Participants agreed that the two compendia 
should be in suitable form by the end of April 2000 for transmittal, 
via the OECD Council, to the G-8.
    The program of work described above, and the US' submission to the 
compendium of national food safety systems will be discussed at the 
public meeting.

Additional Public Notification

    Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy 
development is important. Consequently, in an effort to better ensure 
that minorities, women, and persons with disabilities are aware of this 
meeting notice, FSIS will announce it and provide copies of this 
Federal Register publication in the FSIS Constituent Update. FSIS 
provides a weekly FSIS Constituent Update, which is communicated via 
fax to over 300 organizations and individuals. In addition, the update 
is available on line through the FSIS web page located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov. The update is used to provide information regarding 
FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal Register notices, FSIS 
public meetings, recalls, and any other types of information that could 
affect or would be of interest to our constituents/stakeholders. The 
constituent fax list consists of industry, trade, and farm groups, 
consumer interest groups, allied health professionals, scientific 
professionals, and other individuals that have requested to be 
included. Through these various channels, FSIS is able to provide 
information to a much broader, more diverse audience. For more 
information and to be added to the constituent fax list, fax your 
request to the Congressional and Public Affairs Office, at (202) 720-
5704.

    Done at Washington, DC on: February 24, 2000.
Patrick J. Clerkin,
Associate U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius.
Margaret M. Dotzel,
Acting Associate Commissioner for Policy.
[FR Doc. 00-4849 Filed 2-29-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE FSIS 3410-DM-P; FDA 4160-01-P