The Australia New Zealand Food Authority requests public comment on the feasibility of applying the proposed equivalence determination procedures, the appropriateness of the information requirements and the clarity of the guidelines in general.  

Please send your comments by 28 June 2002 to: equivalence@foodstandards.gov.au

 

Draft: Proposed Guidelines for Determining the Equivalence of  Food Safety Measures

 may 2002

[ Full Report PDF format 76 kb ]

The Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA), in cooperation with the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments and the New Zealand Government, develops food standards and other food regulatory measures for Australia and New Zealand, in the form of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (FSC). ANZFA' s primary objective in developing food standards is to protect public health and safety.

The principle of equivalence in food safety is based on the recognition that the same level of food safety can be achieved by applying alternative hazard control measures. The objective of assessing the equivalence of alternative measures is to determine if these measures, when applied to a specified food, achieve the same level of food safety as that achieved when the same type of food is produced by applying standard/ traditional measures. As food regulations become less prescriptive, equivalence becomes a useful tool to ensure the health and safety of consumers without unnecessarily hindering innovation in the food industry. To this effect, ANZFA has developed a background paper (Attachment 1, below) and drafted these guidelines for determining the equivalence of food safety measures in a consistent and transparent manner.

Equivalence of food safety measures is recognised in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures [ 1 ](SPS Agreement) and the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade [ 2 ](TBT Agreement). The relevant articles in these agreements (SPS Agreement-Article 4 and TBT Agreement-Article 2.7; require member countries to ensure their measures are objective, science-based, consistent, and harmonised with international standards, where they exist. Because measures can take many forms, member countries are encouraged to accept as equivalent, measures and regulation of other members, provided they are satisfied these alternative measures and regulations meet their health and safety requirements. In October 2001, the SPS committee published a decision [ 3 ] outlining steps to facilitate the application of equivalence provisions of the SPS Agreement for all WTO members.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, the international food standard setting body is aiming to better understand the concept of equivalence and its application to food safety. In particular, the Codex Committee for Food Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) is currently developing guidelines on the judgement of equivalence of sanitary measures associated with food inspection and certification systems [ 4 ].