[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 187 (Wednesday, September 28, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56626-56627]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-19374]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

[Docket No. 05-030N]


Codex Alimentarius Commission: Meeting of the Codex Committee on 
Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems

AGENCY: Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, United 
States 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 November 10, 2005. The 
objective of the public meeting is to provide information and receive 
public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions that will be 
discussed at the 14th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and 
Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) of the Codex 
Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Melbourne, 
Australia, November 28-December 2, 2005. The Under Secretary for Food 
Safety and FDA recognize the importance of providing interested parties 
the opportunity to obtain background information on the 14th Session of 
CCFICS and to address items on the agenda.

DATES: The public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 10, 2005 
from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in Room 0161 of the South 
Agriculture Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 
(Smithsonian Metro stop). Documents related to the 14th Session of the 
CCFICS will be accessible via the World Wide Web at the following 
address: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp.
    FSIS invites interested persons to submit comments on this notice. 
Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROMs, and hand- or 
courier-delivered items: Send to the FSIS Docket Clerk, U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 300 12th Street, 
SW., Room 102, Cotton Annex, Washington, DC 20250. All comments 
received must include the Agency name and docket number 05-030N. All 
comments submitted in response to this notice, will be available for 
public inspection in the FSIS Docket Room at the address listed above 
between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. The comments 
also will be posted on the Agency's Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2005_Notices_Index/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: About the 14th session of the CCFICS: 
Dr. Catherine Carnevale, Director, Office of Constituent Operations, 
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, FDA, 5100 Paint Branch 
Parkway (HFS-550), College Park, MD 20740, phone: (301) 436-2380, Fax: 
(301) 436-2618. E-mail: [email protected]. About the 
public meeting: Edith Kennard, Staff Officer, U.S. Codex Office, Food 
Safety and Inspection Service, Room 4861, South Building, 1400 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250, Phone: (202) 720-5261, 
Fax: (202) 720-3157, E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    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 
manage and carry out U.S. Codex.
    The Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and 
Certification Systems was established to develop principles and 
guidelines for food import and export inspection and certification 
systems to facilitate trade through harmonization and to supply safe 
and quality foods to consumers. Included in the charge is application 
of measures by competent authorities to provide assurance that foods 
comply with essential requirements.

Issues To Be Discussed at the Public Meeting

    The following items on the Agenda for the 14th Session of the 
Committee will be discussed during the public meeting:
     Proposed draft Appendices to the Guidelines on the 
Judgment of Equivalence of Sanitary Measures Associated with Food 
Inspection and Certification.
     Proposed draft Guidelines for Risk-based Inspection of 
Imported Foods
     Proposed draft Principles for the Application of 
Traceability/Product tracing in the context of Food Inspection and 
Certification Systems
     Proposed draft Revision of the Guidelines for Generic 
Official Certificate Formats and the Production and issuance of 
Certificates
     Discussion Paper on the Revision of the Guidelines for the 
Exchange of Information between Countries on Rejection of Imported 
Foods
     Discussion Paper on development of an Appendix on 
``Information relating to the need for technical assistance and 
cooperation between the importing countries to exporting countries'' to 
the Codex Guidelines on the Judgment of Equivalence of Sanitary 
Measures Associated with Food Inspection and Certification
    Members of the public may access or request copies of these 
documents at: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp

Public Meeting

    At the November 10th public meeting, draft U.S. positions on the 
agenda items will be described, discussed, and attendees will have the 
opportunity to

[[Page 56627]]

pose questions and offer comments. Written comments may be offered at 
the meeting or sent to the U.S. Delegate for the 14th session of the 
CCFICS, Dr. Catherine Carnevale (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 
Written comments should state that they relate to activities of the 
14th Session of the CCFICS.

Additional Public Information

    Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy 
development is important. Consequently, in an effort to ensure that the 
public, and in particular minorities, women, and persons with 
disabilities are aware of this notice, FSIS will announce it on-line 
through the FSIS Web page located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2005_Notices_Index/.
    FSIS also will make copies of this Federal Register publication 
available through the FSIS Constituent Update, which is used to provide 
information regarding FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal 
Register notices, FSIS public meetings, recalls, and other types of 
information that could affect or would be of interest to our 
constituents and stakeholders. The update is communicated via Listserv, 
a free electronic mail subscription service for industry, trade, and 
farm groups, consumer interest groups, allied health professionals, 
scientific professionals, and other individuals who have requested to 
be included. The update also is available on the FSIS Web page. Through 
Listserv and the Web page, FSIS is able to provide information to a 
much broader, more diverse audience.
    In addition, FSIS offers an electronic mail subscription service 
which provides an automatic and customized notification when popular 
pages are updated, including Federal Register publications and related 
documents. This service is available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/news_and_events/email_subscription/ and allows FSIS customers to sign up 
for subscription options across eight categories. Options range from 
recalls to export information to regulations, directives, and notices.
    Customers can add or delete subscriptions themselves and have the 
option to protect their accounts with passwords.

    Done at Washington, DC, September 23, 2005.
F. Edward Scarbrough,
U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius.
[FR Doc. 05-19374 Filed 9-27-05; 8:45 am]
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