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

English French Russian

2

Matters of interest arising since the last session

 

 

(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

-

 

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)

 

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Recommendation in force see:

http://www.unece.org/trade/agr/standard/dry/dry_e.htm

 

 

(b)

Texts recommended for adoption as UNECE recommendations (extension of trial for one year):

 

Inshell Almonds

 

Pistachio Kernels and Peeled Pistachio Kernels

 

 

 

 

 

 

TRADE/WP.7/GE.2/2004/14/Add.1

 

Recommendation in force see:

http://www.unece.org/trade/agr/standard/dry/dry_e.htm

 

 

(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)

 

 

(d)

Information concerning the joint publication of the colour chart for walnut kernels by OECD and UNECE

 

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

English French Russian

 

TRADE/WP.7/2004/3/Add.1

English French Russian

 

(b)

Information on meetings of the extended bureau:

 

Dublin (Ireland) - July 2004

Great Forks (United States) - October 2004

 

 

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

English French Russian

 

(b)

Seminar on implementation of the beef standard (Lithuania, October 2004)

 

 

(c)

Meeting of rapporteurs on Pork (Lithuania, October 2004)

 

7

Internationally Harmonized Produce Coding

 

Information from France, Slovakia and Turkey

 

[TRADE/WP.7/2004/5]

8

Publications

 

 

(a)

UNECE Standards for Meat

 

 

(b)

Promotional postcards

 

 

(c)

Promotional booklet on the work and achievements of the Working Party

 

9

General questions concerning the work of WP.7 and its Specialized Sections

 

 

(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 81

TRADE/WP.7/2004/7

English French Russian

 

(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

 

 

(a)

Moldova

 

 

(b)

Georgia

 

 

(c)

Azerbadjan

 

11

Other business

 

12

Programme of work

TRADE/WP.7/2004/9

English French Russian

 

(a)

Calendar of meetings

 

 

(b)

Future work

 

13

Election of officers

 

14

Adoption of the report

 

 

 

PROPOSED TIME TABLE

 

8

November

10.00 � 13.00

Items 1 � 4

 

 

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:

[email protected]

 

Meeting documentation will be available on our homepage:

 

http://www.unece.org/trade/agr/welcome.htm