THE USER'S MANUAL ON CODEX - Department of Biotechnology

such as ‘organically produced’ or from low chemical input farming is stimulating the export potential for these
products. Developing countries are taking advantage of these trade opportunities to build national wealth.
Exported produce that conform to Codex norms minimize trade risks and vulnerabilities. World Trade
Organization agreements (see Section 2, Module 5 of this manual) are intended to provide a level of
protection to Member Countries of the WTO from demands by trading partners for measures more
stringent to Codex, unless scientifically justified.
Conversely, imports provide the potential to meet the national shortfall due to seasonal fluctuations.
The use of Codex norms as the basis for imported products will provide assurance to the national
population of the safety of the product.
It is important to note that the Codex mandate is solely to protect the health and safety of consumers
and to facilitate trade. The production of the commodities addressed in this module may call upon plant
and plant health issues. These may be found under the International Phytosanitary Portal at: www.ippc.int.
The Codex standards discussed below have been selected for their importance to India. However, there
may be other standards that are important to a particular industry sector in an economic sense and
these, therefore, should be studied by those interest groups. These may be found in the Codex Alimentarius
Volume 7: Cereals, Pulses and Legumes, including Derived Products and Vegetable Proteins. The respective
adopted Codex texts are listed at the conclusion of this module.
1. CODEX COMMITTEES
The Codex Committee on Cereals, Pulses and Legumes, hosted by the Government of the United
States of America, commenced work in 1980. This Committee was adjourned following its 9th Session
in 1994 after updating the standards, codes and recommendations to take account of the contemporary
food standard-setting methodology. With a stronger focus within Codex on science-based requirements
for achieving food safety, any issues related to commodities in the area of cereals, pulses and legumes
are now taken up by the general, or horizontal, committees (see Section 6 of this manual).
The Codex Alimentarius Commission prior to 1980 adopted the Codes of Hygienic Practice for tree and
ground nuts. However, as these have not been rescinded, they remain relevant in the
context of the World Trade Organization framework. Other Codex Committees, because of their specific
relevance to another subordinate Codex body, developed some of the Codex norms relevant to this
industry sector. For example, the Regional Coordinating Committee for Africa developed the Codex
Standard on Couscous, and the Regional Coordinating Committee for Asia developed the Codex
Standard on Coconut.
There are a number of adopted norms in the Codex Alimentarius of which Codex stakeholders should
be aware, and that may be called up by a World Trade Organization dispute panel if such a situation
arises in the future. A list of relevant Codex texts is given at the conclusion of this module.
2. CODEX TEXTS
The Codex standards referred to in this section are known as ‘commodity’ standards. They contain specific
information about certain commodities that will assist in assuring Good Agricultural Practice (GAP), facilitate
trade and protect the consumer in terms of human health and against deceptive and fraudulent practices.
These commodity standards must meet the requirements of the relevant general standards and, if applied in
international trade, they should protect countries from unjustified trade barriers.
All the commodity standards follow the standard Codex format, providing important information in a
logical manner:
k The scope of the text.
k A description of the commodity covered by the text.
k The essential composition and quality factors.
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