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EAN International General Assembly

Dublin, 10 May 2001

Tom Heilandt

Agricultural Standards Unit, UN/ECE Trade Division

UNECE Agricultural Standards

Trade Facilitation, Quality and Safety through International Harmonization

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Outline

• UNECE: data, mission, services and work areas• Agricultural Standards: overview, role,

development, challenges and application• Example: Standards for Meat• Cooperation with EAN: present, future• Questions, discussion

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ECONOMIC COMMISSION

for EUROPE

UNITED NATIONS

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ESCWA - Beirut

ECA - Addis-Abeba

ESCAP - Bangkok

ECLAC - Santiago

ECE - Geneva

5 REGIONAL COMMISSIONS OF THE UNITED NATIONS

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UNECE Data

• Set up in 1947 by ECOSOC• 55 member States in North America, Asia and

Europe• 200 employees

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UNECE Mission

• Encourage greater economic cooperation among its member states

• Facilitate trade between member states and beyond in all stages of the supply chain

• Encourage sustainable development of its member states

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UNECE Services

• Evaluate the economical situation in the UNECE area• Provide a forum for governments to develop

conventions, regulations and standards• Provide technical assistance to facilitate integration of

member states

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UN/ECE Working Areas

Economic Analysis

Statistics

EnergyEnvironment

and human settlements

Transport

Trade

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TRADEUN/

CEFACTInvestmentPromotion

Timber Agriculture

Industry and Enterprise Development

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UNECE Work Highlights

• Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution

• UN/EDIFACT, UN/LOCODE

• Convention on Public Participation

• TIR Convention

• Convention on Road Signs and Signals

• Agreement on Construction of Vehicles

• Agreement on Transport of Dangerous Goods,

• E-Road Network

• Economic Survey and Bulletin

• Agricultural Quality Standards

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AgriculturalStandards

Fresh fruit and vegetables (46)

Eggs and egg products (5)

Dry and dried Fruit (17)

Potatoes (3)

Meat (3)

Cut flowers (8)

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UNECE offers a forum for the development of harmonized

agricultural quality standards

• To facilitate fair international trade• To encourage high quality

production• To improve producers’ profitability• To protect consumers’ interests

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Why UN/ECE Standards?

• Facilitate fair international trade

• Encourage high quality production

• Improve producers’ profitability

• Protect consumers’ interests

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Role of UN/ECE standards

• To define a common international trading language

• To fill the gap between food safety regulations and marketing

• To define commercial quality for foodstuffs

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QUALITY

Food safety

Nutrition

Production methods

Shape

Presentation/

Cut

Colour

Taste

Ripeness/

Freshness

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How are the standards developed?

• International Meetings• Experts from all UN and UNECE

member countries and observer organisations

• Consensus

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How are the standards developed?

• All UN and UNECE member countries can participate with the same rights

• International organisations give input and use the standards

• International producer, retailer, import/export or consumer organisations are welcome to cooperate and give advice

• Decisions are taken on a consensus basis

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Challenges• Encourage all relevant parties (buyers, sellers, producers,

consumers etc.) to participate

• Define quality in a way that is acceptable to all participants

• Avoid building technical barriers to trade

• Define interior quality in the most efficient and least expensive way

• Encourage widespread use of the standards

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Organizational Structure

Working Party on Standardisation of Perishable Produce and Quality

Development

Fresh Fruit and

Vegetables

Dry and Dried Fruit

Early and WarePotatoes

Seed Potatoes

Meat

Specialized Section

Economic Commission for EuropeCommittee for Trade, Industry and

Enterprise Development

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Process of elaborating a standard

Specialized Section and Working Party agree to create/amend a standard

Rapporteur prepares/amends text

Specialized Section discusses

text in detail

Working Party discusses text in general

UN/ECE Recommendation

for a 2+1 year trial period UN/ECE Standard

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UNECEStandard

European Commission

Codex Alimentarius

CommissionRegulation

Codex StandardExplanatory

Brochure

OECD Scheme

Application of UNECE Standards

Government

NationalStandard

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UN/ECEStandard

GE.1 WP.7Rapporteur/

Working Group

EUManagementCommittee

for FFV

EUCommission

CCFFV

CAC

EUMarketingDirective

Codex Standard

Rapporteur

ExplanatoryBrochure

OECD SchemePlenary

ProduceWG

Development and Application of UN/ECE Standards

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Application and co-operation with other organisations

• European Union: uses UN/ECE standards as a basis for its regulations• FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme (Codex Alimentarius):

takes UN/ECE standards into account when elaborating Codex standards

• OECD Scheme: uses UN/ECE standards and develops explanatory brochures based on them

• WTO: UN/ECE has observer status in several committees

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Implementation of quality standards

• Set up a national control authority for exports (guidelines are available from OECD/UNECE)

• Adopt international quality standards• Work with producers and exporters on achieving

the quality demanded

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Standardization of Meat:Bovine Carcases and Cuts

• Objective: – To create an international language for Bovine Carcases and Cuts– Focus on Product Description and Handling

• Start of the work: 1994• Contributors: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada,

China, European Community, EAN Brazil, EAN International, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay

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Example: Bovine Carcases and Cuts

• Objective: – To create an international language for Bovine Carcases and Cuts– Focus on Product Description and Handling

• Start of the work: 1994• Contributors: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada,

China, European Community, EAN Brazil, EAN International, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, Poland, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay

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Bovine Carcases and Cuts: Structure of the Standard

• General Requirements (formulated species independent and applicable to all UN/ECE Standards for Meat, definition of the meta code)

• Bovine Specific Requirements (Definition of the specific code structure)

• Bovine Carcases and Cuts Descriptions (textual and pictorial description of the cuts and products)

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Bovine Carcases and Cuts: Coding

( 01) 91234567890121( 3102) 000376( 7002) 15111110205142111

( 1 3 ) 0 0 1 2 3 1 ( 1 0 ) 1 2 3 ABC

(01) 91234567890121 - Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)(3102) 000376 - Net Weight, kilograms(7002) 15111110205142111 - UN/ECE Meat Carcasses and Cuts Code(13) 001231 - Slaughter/Packaging Date(10) 123ABC - Batch Number

 

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 (01) 91234567890121 - Global Trade Item Number (GTIN)(3102) 000376 - Net Weight, kilograms(13) 001231 - Slaughter/Packaging Date(21) 12345678 - Serial Number

( 01) 91234567890121( 3102) 000376( 13) 001231( 21) 12345678

 

Bovine Carcases and Cuts: Coding

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Traceability/safety for food products

• Assumption: trade is in favour of implementing procedures for traceability and safety

• Assist trade in establishing/refining their own control• Promote the application (if necessary the development)

of internationally harmonized tools to implement traceability along the supply chain

• Promote internationally harmonized instruments for monitoring by governments

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Meat Standards in preparation

UN/ECE Standard for Ovine Carcases and Cuts

UN/ECE Standard for Poultry Meat and Products

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Future Co-operation of UN/ECE and EAN International

• Definition of coding for ovine and poultry meat products

• Creation of an internationally recognised list of trade descriptions and classification codes for fruit and vegetables

• On the basis of the classification codes define procedures and messages for electronic commerce

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UN/ECE standards on the internet

• Http://www.unece.org/trade/agr/welcome.htm