Legislation 455 States has, to date, prevented this from taking place. It is expected that with the production of the consolidated hygiene Directives this topic will again come under review 16.6 Codex The key role of Codex in the development of international trade standards was recognised when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was established in January 1995. The WTO updated and replaced the general Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The General Agreement'setting up the WTO was supplemented by several more detailed agreements including the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures(the ' SPS Agreement) and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade(the"TBT Agreement ) Codex standards are recognised as the basic standard upon which national measures will be judged. It is accepted that higher standards may be deemed appropriate but there are restrictions based on them and they must be developed using risk assessment techniques. At its 22nd session in June 1997, the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted a"Statement of Principle Relating to the role of Food Safety Risk Assessment. This includes the statements that: Health and safety aspects of Codex decisions and recommendations should be based on a risk assessment, as appropriate to the circumstances.andFood safety risk assessment should be soundly based science, should incorporate the four steps of the risk assessment process, and should be documented in a transparent manner. Members of the wto (i.e. most countries of Codex) are obliged to consider odex standards as the basis for their national controls. The approaches of the WTO and eU to free trade are similar in that they both allow imports of products which may not comply with the strict legal requirements of the importing country but which meet the requirements of the Codex standard (in the case of WTOs free distribution)or another EU Member State(in the case of mutual The Codex Alimentarius Commission produces food standards and codes of good manufacturing and hygienic practice. Responsibility for the development of codes of hygienic practice is mostly within the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene(CCFh), which works in conjunction with the other Codex committees that specifically develop codes and standards for particular food commodities The hygiene codes are mostly directed at food commodities and deal with aspects that must be addressed during, for example, the production, processing, storage and distribution stages of foodstuffs. The Recommended International Code of Practice General Principles of Food Hygiene(Codex 1997a)sets out the approach to be followed in the production of all foods(from production on farm to final preparation), other CODEX Codes supplementing details. Unlike previous versions of the General Principles, the 1997 code is not prescriptive: ai laying down design elements for factories or transport and storage facilitie Instead, it recommends a HACCP-based approach to enhance food safety asStates has, to date, prevented this from taking place. It is expected that with the production of the consolidated hygiene Directives this topic will again come under review. 16.6 Codex The key role of Codex in the development of international trade standards was recognised when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was established in January 1995. The WTO updated and replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. The ‘General Agreement’ setting up the WTO was supplemented by several more detailed agreements including the Agreement on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the ‘SPS’ Agreement) and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (the ‘TBT’ Agreement). Codex standards are recognised as the basic standard upon which national measures will be judged. It is accepted that ‘higher standards’ may be deemed appropriate but there are restrictions based on them and they must be developed using risk assessment techniques. At its 22nd session in June 1997, the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted a ‘Statement of Principle Relating to the Role of Food Safety Risk Assessment’. This includes the statements that: ‘Health and safety aspects of Codex decisions and recommendations should be based on a risk assessment, as appropriate to the circumstances.’ and ‘Food safety risk assessment should be soundly based on science, should incorporate the four steps of the risk assessment process, and should be documented in a transparent manner.’ Members of the WTO (i.e. most countries of Codex) are obliged to consider Codex standards as the basis for their national controls. The approaches of the WTO and EU to free trade are similar in that they both allow imports of products which may not comply with the strict legal requirements of the importing country but which meet the requirements of the Codex standard (in the case of WTO’s ‘free distribution’) or another EU Member State (in the case of ‘mutual recognition’). The Codex Alimentarius Commission produces food standards and codes of good manufacturing and hygienic practice. Responsibility for the development of codes of hygienic practice is mostly within the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), which works in conjunction with the other Codex committees that specifically develop codes and standards for particular food commodities. The hygiene codes are mostly directed at food commodities and deal with aspects that must be addressed during, for example, the production, processing, storage and distribution stages of foodstuffs. The Recommended International Code of Practice General Principles of Food Hygiene (Codex 1997a) sets out the approach to be followed in the production of all foods (from production on￾farm to final preparation), other CODEX Codes supplementing details. Unlike previous versions of the General Principles, the 1997 code is not prescriptive in laying down design elements for factories or transport and storage facilities. Instead, it recommends a HACCP-based approach to enhance food safety as Legislation 455