24TH CCFICS, Brisbane Australia

24^TH CCFICS, Brisbane Australia, 22-26 October, 2018

The meeting of the General Purposes Technical Committee (GPTC) was held on 11^th October 2018 to prepare the national delegation attending the 24^th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection Certification Systems (CCFICS) in Brisbane, Australia on 22-26 October 2018. The General Purposes Technical Committee chaired by the Director-General of the National Agency for Food & Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC) Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye is a Sub-Committee of the National Codex Committee (NCC). The meeting was attended by the national delegation to the 24^th CCFICS and some members of the NCC which included NAFDAC (Chair of the GPTC), SON (Codex Contact Point), Federal Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Nigeria Customs Service and the Private Sector.

The 24^th CCFICS would discuss a total of 12 (twelve) agenda items. They include reports on matters referred to the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its subsidiary bodies, activities of FAO and WHO and other international organizations relevant to Codex work, Codex documents to member countries for comments at step 3 and some discussion papers.

Nigeria delegation would present the national position on the various agenda items including Codex texts at step 3 of the elaboration of Codex Standards namely:

1.       Proposed Draft Guidance on the Use of Systems Equivalence

2.       Proposed Draft Guidance on Paperless Use of Electronic Certificates (Revision of the Guidelines For Design, Production, Issuance and Use of Generic Official Certificates – CXG 38-2001

3.       Proposed Draft Principles and Guidelines for the Assessment and Use of Voluntary Third-Party Assurance Programmes.

The GPTC meeting was chaired by the representative of the DG (NAFDAC) Mr. Sheriff Olagunju, fsi, Director of Food Safety & Applied Nutrition Directorate (NAFDAC) who read the DG (NAFDAC)’s  welcome address while the representative of the DG (SON) Mr. Charles Nwagbara gave the DG(SON)’s opening remarks. Discussions were led by the Codex Consultant, Mrs. Jane Omojokun (Managing Director/Lead Consultant, Nugata Consults Ltd) with contributions from Mrs. Margaret Eshiett (Executive Director, Society for Quality & Safe Foods Promotion).