ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE
COMMITTEE FOR TRADE, INDUSTRY AND
ENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT
Working Party on Agricultural Quality Standards
Sixtieth session
Geneva, 8 to 10 November 2004
PROVISIONAL AGENDA FOR THE SIXTIETH SESSION
to be held in the Palais des Nations, Geneva,
commencing at 10:00 hrs, 8 November 2004
Note by the secretariat: Document numbers in square brackets refer to documents expected but not received by the time of the preparation of the agenda. They might be available late or at the meeting as room documents. As soon as they are received they will also be available on the home page of the agricultural standards unit.
1 | Adoption of the agenda | TRADE/WP.7/2004/1 | |||
2 | Matters of interest arising since the last session |
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| (a) | UNECE - Committee for Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development - Working Party on Technical Harmonization and Standardization Policy - Working Party on Transport of Perishable Foodstuffs | [TRADE/WP.7/2004/2] | ||
| (b)
| Other organizations: - Codex Alimentarius Commission - European Union - OECD Scheme for the Application of - International Standards for Fruit and Vegetables - UNCTAD - World Health Organization - |
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3 | Specialized Section on Standardization of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables |
TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25 | |||
| (a) | Texts recommended for adoption as revised standards:
Cultivated Mushrooms Kiwi Fruit Peaches and Nectarines Billberries and Blueberries Watermelons Citrus Fruit Early and ware potatoes
Plums (additions to the list of varieties) Pears (additions to the list of varieties)
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TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25/Add.2 TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25/Add.3 TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25/Add.4(Part I) TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25/Add.5 TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25/Add.6 TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25/Add.7 TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/7 TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25 (paras 31 to 35).
(Mentioned for information only – no decision necessary) | ||
| (b) | Texts recommended for adoption as UNECE recommendations:
Cherries (2-year trial) Peaches and Nectarines (2-year trial) Truffles (2-year trial)
Plums (extension of trial for 1 year for interspecific hybrids)
Apples (provisional inclusion of new varieties until the end of the trial in 2005) |
TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25/Add.1 TRADE/WP.7/GE.1/2004/25/Add.4(Part II) TRADE/WP.7/2002/9/Add.8
(see annotations)
(Mentioned for information only – no decision necessary) | ||
| (c) | Revision of the standard layout |
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4 | Specialized Section on Standardization of Dry and Dried Produce (Fruit) | TRADE/WP.7/GE.2/2004/14 | |||
| (a) | Texts recommended for adoption as revised UNECE standards:
Inshell Pistachio Nuts
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Recommendation in force see: http://www.unece.org/trade/agr/standard/dry/dry_e.htm
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| (b) | Texts recommended for adoption as UNECE recommendations (extension of trial for one year):
Inshell Almonds
Pistachio Kernels and Peeled Pistachio Kernels
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TRADE/WP.7/GE.2/2004/14/Add.1
Recommendation in force see: http://www.unece.org/trade/agr/standard/dry/dry_e.htm
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| (c) | Correction to the UNECE Standard for Dried Figs | TRADE/WP.7/GE.2/2004/14/Add.2 (Mentioned for information only – no decision necessary)
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| (d) | Information concerning the joint publication of the colour chart for walnut kernels by OECD and UNECE |
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5 | Specialized Section on Standardization of Seed Potatoes | TRADE/WP.7/GE.6/2004/16 | |||
| (a) | Text recommended for adoption as revised UNECE Standard |
TRADE/WP.7/2004/3
TRADE/WP.7/2004/3/Add.1 | ||
| (b) | Information on meetings of the extended bureau:
Dublin (Ireland) - July 2004 Great Forks (United States) - October 2004
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6 | Specialized Section on Standardization of Meat | TRADE/WP.7/GE.11/2004/12 | |||
| (a) | UNECE Standard for Llama/ Alpaca Carcases and Cuts |
TRADE/WP.7/2004/4 | ||
| (b) | Seminar on implementation of the beef standard (Lithuania, October 2004) |
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| (c) | Meeting of rapporteurs on Pork (Lithuania, October 2004) |
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7 | Internationally Harmonized Produce Coding
Information from France, Slovakia and Turkey
| [TRADE/WP.7/2004/5] | |||
8 | Publications |
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| (a) | UNECE Standards for Meat |
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| (b) | Promotional postcards |
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| (c) | Promotional booklet on the work and achievements of the Working Party |
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9 | General questions concerning the work of WP.7 and its Specialized Sections |
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| (a) | Compatibility of the control certificate with the UN layout key | [TRADE/WP.7/2004/6] | ||
| (b) | Terms of reference for the Working Party and the Specialized Sections | TRADE/WP.7/2001/6 TRADE/WP.7/2001/9, paras. 75 to 81TRADE/WP.7/2004/7 | ||
| (c) | Sales packages | [TRADE/WP.7/2004/8 (European Community, United States)] | ||
| (d) | Point of application of UNECE standards | (See annotations) | ||
| (e) | Assessment of the implementation of UNECE Standards | |||
10 | Workshops |
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| (a) | Moldova |
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| (b) | Georgia |
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| (c) | Azerbadjan |
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11 | Other business |
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12 | Programme of work | TRADE/WP.7/2004/9 | |||
| (a) | Calendar of meetings |
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| (b) | Future work |
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13 | Election of officers |
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14 | Adoption of the report |
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PROPOSED TIME TABLE
8 | November | 10.00 – 13.00 | Items 1 – 4 |
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| 15.00 – 18.00 | Items 4 – 9 |
9 | November | 10.00 – 13.00 | Items 10 – 13 |
10 | November | 10.00 – 13.00 | Item 14 |
ANNOTATIONS
ITEM 1 Adoption of the agenda
According to the Commission's Rules of Procedure, the first item on the provisional agenda shall be the adoption of the agenda.
ITEM 2 Matters of interest arising since the last session
Other organizations as well as groups within UNECE have been invited to provide any information that could be of interest to the Working Party. Representatives of these groups/ organizations have been invited to present the information.
Document TRADE/WP.7/2004/2 contains the discussion on the work of the Working Party that was held at the 2004 session of the Committee for Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development.
ITEM 3 Specialized Section on Standardization of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables
The Working Party will be informed on the outcome of the fiftieth session of the Specialized Section and will be invited to take decisions on the standards and recommendations proposed for adoption.
Concerning 3(b) Plums: The Specialized Section proposes to extend the trial period for the interspecific hybrids and to remove “Aprium” from the recommendation because this product is considered to be closer to apricots.
ITEM 4 Specialized Section on Standardization of Dry and Dried Produce (Fruit)
The Working Party will be informed on the outcome of the fifty-first session of the Specialized Section and will be invited to take decisions on standards and recommendations as proposed.
The Working Party will be informed about progress made on the development of the Color Chart for Walnut Kernels.
ITEM 5 Specialized Section on Standardization of Seed Potatoes
The Working Party will be informed on the outcome of the thirty-third session of the Specialized Section.
The Specialized Section recommends the adoption of the text contained in TRADE/WP.7/2004/3 and TRADE/WP.7/2004/3/Add.1 as revised UNECE Standard for Seed Potatoes.
The Working Party will be informed about the outcome of the meetings of the extended bureau held in 2004.
ITEM 6 Specialized Section on Standardization of Meat
The Working Party will be informed on the outcome of the thirteenth session of the Specialized Section.
(a) New UNECE Standard Llama/Alpaca Carcases and Cuts
The Specialized Section recommends to the Working Party to adopt the text contained in documents TRADE/WP.7/2004/4 and TRADE/WP.7/2004/4/Add.1 as new UNECE Standard for Llama/Alpaca Meat – Carcases and Cuts.
(b) Meeting of rapporteurs/Seminar on meat standards
The Working Party will be informed about the outcome of the meeting of rapporteurs and a seminar on meat standards that took place in Lithuania in October.
ITEM 7 Internationally Harmonized Produce Coding
At the last session of the Specialized Section on Standardization of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables the delegations of France, Slovakia and Turkey announced that they would send information on this topic to the secretariat. Any information received will be reproduced in document TRADE/WP.7/2004/5.
ITEM 8 Publications
(a) UNECE Standards for Meat
The secretariat will inform the Working Party on the status of the publication of the updated standard for bovine, ovine and chicken meat.
(b) Promotional postcards for fresh fruit and vegetables
The secretariat will present the new postcard series to the Working Party, which has been developed in cooperation with the World Health Organization.
(c) Promotional booklet on the work and achievements of the Working Party
The secretariat will inform the Working Party on the status of this publication.
ITEM 9 General questions concerning the work of WP.7 and its Specialized Sections
(a) Compatibility of the control certificate with the UN layout key
At the last session of the Specialized Section on Standardization of Fresh Fruit and Vegetables it was mentioned that the present UNECE control certificate was not harmonized with the layout key for international trade documents recommended by the United Nations Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT).
One further problem with the present certificate was that it allowed only a limited number of products to be included on each certificate and they would welcome if a revision of the certificate would allow more products to be included.
The secretariat will collect information on how to apply the layout key TRADE/WP.7/2004/6. A presentation about the issue will be invited from UN/CEFACT.
(b) Terms of reference for the Working Party and the Specialized Sections
The Working Group on Working Procedures will report on its discussions on updating the framework in which the Working Party and its Specialized Sections operate and the status of the revision of the working procedures.
The Working Group agreed with the assessment of the secretariat (as in TRADE/WP.7/2001/6) that many of the provisions which are at present in the Geneva Protocol could be included as comments in the
standard layout. Other provisions (e.g. concerning an international agreement) are obsolete or are dealt with
in other organizations (application of inspection and control certificate). The secretariat presents a first draft of a consolidated text of terms of reference in TRADE/WP.7/2004/7.
(c) Sales packages
At the last session a working group (European Community, United States) was created to work on the following questions:
- Which are the different packages used for sale to final consumer?
- What would be the best term to describe them?
- How to define them?
- What are the implications on marking for the different packages?
Any information received from the working group will be included in TRADE/WP.7/2004/8.
(d) Point of application of UNECE standards
At the last session the Working Party discussed the possibility to replace the sentence concerning the point of application reading:
“The purpose of the standard is to define the quality requirements of apples at the export control stage, after
preparation and packaging.”
With the following sentence:
“The purpose of the standard is to define the quality requirements of <name of the produce> after preparation and packaging.”
Delegations had felt that this proposal was interesting but should be further discussed (see TRADE/WP.7/2003/6, paras. 128-129) .
(e) Assessment of the implementation of UNECE Standards
The secretariat will present any information received on the status of implementation of UNECE standards.
ITEM 10 Workshops
The Working Party will be informed on the workshops on trade in agriculture held in Moldova and Georgia and the workshop planned in Azerbaijan.
ITEM 11 Other business
Any other topic can be discussed under this agenda item.
ITEM 12 Programme of work
(a) Calendar of meetings
The calendar of sessions of the Specialized Sections and the Working Party will be presented for the consideration of the Working Party.
(b) Future work
Delegations are invited to propose on areas of future work of interest to their countries. A draft programme of work is contained in document TRADE/WP.7/2004/9.
ITEM 13 Election of officers
According to the Commission's Rules of Procedure and established practice, the Meeting is expected to elect
a Chair and two vice-chairs. The Working Party elected the following bureau at its last session:
Chair: Mr. D.L. Priester (United States of America)
Vice-Chair: Ms. O. Vorovenci (Romania)
Vice-Chair: Ms. V. Baricicova (Slovakia)
ITEM 14 Adoption of the report
The Working Party will adopt the report of its sixtieth session on the basis of a draft prepared by the secretariat.
NOTE BY THE SECRETARIAT:
Contributions should be sent to the secretariat either on diskette by mail to:
Food Standards Officer
UNECE Trade Division
Palais des Nations
Office 432
1211 Geneva 10
Tel: (41) 22 917 2450 Fax: (41) 22 917 0041
or by e-mail to:
agristandards@unece.org
Meeting documentation will be available on our homepage:
trade/agr/welcome.html
