Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems

Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems

The Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) is chaired and hosted by Australia. This committee develops principles and guidelines related to food import and export inspection and certification systems with a view to harmonising methods and procedures which protect the health of consumers, ensure fair trading practices and contribute to facilitating international trade in food stuffs.

Existing Codex Standards

Standards relating to food import and export inspection and certification systems* that have been endorsed and adopted into the international food code include standards on:

Principles for Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification
Guidelines For The Exchange of Information between Countries on Rejections of Imported Foods
Guidelines For The Design, Operation, Assessment and Accreditation of Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems
Guidelines For The Development of Equivalence Agreements Regarding Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems
Guidelines for Food Import Control Systems
Guidelines for the Judgement of Equivalence of Sanitary Measures Associated with Food Inspection and Certifications Systems
Guidelines for the Exchange of Information in Food Safety Emergency Situations
Principles for Electronic Certification as an Appendix to the Codex Guidelines for Generic Official Certificate Formats and the Production and Issuance of Certificates (CAC/GL 38–2001), and
Principles for Traceability/Product Tracing as a Tool within a Food Inspection and Certification System.
Principles and guidelines for the conduct of assessment of foreign official inspection and certification systems (Annex to the Guidelines for the design, operation, assessment and accreditation of food import and export inspection and certification systems (CAC/GL 26–1997) (N07–2008)

*This is an indicative list only. For a full list of standards approved by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, please consult its Official List of Standards.

Last meeting

The 19th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems met in Cairns, Australia from 17 – 21 October 2011.

At the meeting the Committee agreed to forward the Introduction and Sections 1 to 3 of the Principles and guidelines for national food control systems (N06-2009) to the 35th Session of the Commission for adoption at Step 5.

Physical Working Groups

The committee also agreed to establish a physical working group to further elaborate Section 4 of the Principles and guidelines for national food control systems to be held in the second quarter of 2012.

Matters referred to other Committees / Task Forces

Committee on Fish and Fishery Products (CCFFP)

The Committee agreed that it was premature to consider the inclusion of the CCFFP proposal to review the Generic Model Official Certificate (Annex to CAC/GL 38-2001) and that the issue of attestation could be considered in a more holistic in the future (see para. 11).

Next meeting

The 20th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems has been tentatively scheduled to be held in February 2013.