[Federal Register: September 28, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 187)]
[Notices]
[Page 56626-56627]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28se05-29]
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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: Catherine.Carnevale@cfsan.fda.gov. 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: edith.kennard@fsis.usda.gov.
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]
BILLING CODE 3410-DM-P