International Institutions

i. International Dairy Federation (IDF)

Founded in 1903, the International Dairy Federation (IDF) is an organization created by dairy sector worldwide where dairy specialists of all kinds meet to resolve common issues and exchange ideas and experience. The Head Office is at Brussels, Belgium. The major activities are:

(a) Provides science-based information on which Governments and legislators can develop policy and regulations;

 (b) Collects, compiles and disseminates information on all issues of interest to the dairy sector;

(c) Provides a discussion forum on all aspects of production, distribution, consumption and trade of milk and milk products;

(d) Bolsters the work of other international organizations such as Codex by providing scientific and technical advice on dairy issues.

ii. International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a non-governmental organization, is a network of the national standards institutes of 157 countries, on the basis of one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva,Switzerland, that coordinates the system. The word “ISO”, the short form of the organization, has been derived from the Greek isos, meaning “equal”. ISO’s principal activity is the development of technical standards and it is the world’s largest developer of standards. ISO standards are voluntary. As a non-governmental organization, ISO has no legal authority to enforce their implementation.

ISO develops only those standards for which there is a market requirement. The work is carried out by experts from the industrial, technical and business sectors which have asked for the standards, and which subsequently put them to use.These experts may be joined by others with relevant knowledge, such as representatives of government agencies, consumer organizations, academia and testing laboratories.

ISO has published more than 16,000 International Standards. ISO’s work ranges from standards for traditional activities, such as agriculture and construction, through mechanical engineering, to medical devices, to the newest information technology developments, such as the digital coding of audio-visual signals for multimedia applications. An ISO standard carries the ISO logo and the designation,“International Standard”.

The vast majority of ISO standards are highly specific to a particular product,material, or process. The ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 are the most popular “generic management system standards” ISO 9000 series are quality management and quality assurance standards. The principle of these standards is, “if the system (input, process, output) through which the product is produced, is perfect then the product coming-out of the system will also be perfect.” The ISO 14000 family is primarily concerned with “environmental management”. This means what the organization does to: (a) minimize harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities, and to (b) achieve continual improvement of its environmental performance. Both ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 concern with the way an organization goes about its work, and not directly result of this work. In other words, they both concern processes, and not products – at least, not directly. The main principal of achieving this certification is ‘SAY what you Do and Do what you SAY’. A few important ISO standards are as follows:

(a) ISO 9000 series: Under this series, the three standards ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 have been integrated into the new ISO 9001:2000. It specifies requirements for a quality management system for any organization aiming for product that meets customer and applicable regulatory requirements. It also outlines the measures to enhance customer satisfaction by improving the quality management system. The standard is used for certification/registration and contractual purposes by organizations seeking recognition of their quality management system. The ISO 9004:2000 is used to extend the benefits obtained from ISO 9001:2000 to all other associated parties such as employees, owners,suppliers, etc. and may include society in general. The standard recognizes that the word “product” applies to services, processed material, hardware and software intended for, or required by, the customer.

(b) ISO 14000 series: The ISO 14000 family consists of standards relating to environmental management systems and others which are specific tools for realizing environmental policy and achieving objectives and targets. ISO 14001:2004 specifies the requirements and guidelines for use.

(c) ISO 22000 is first in family of food safety management system standards. ISO 22000:2005, is a new International Standard designed to ensure safe food supply chains worldwide

(d) ISO/PAS 28000:2005 is for supply chain security management.

iii. Codex Alimentarius

The Codex Alimentarius, or the food code, has become the global reference point for consumers, food producers and processors, national food control agencies and the international food trade. Term Codex Alimentraius is taken from Latin and means Food code. The FAO/WHO codex Alimentrius commission was established to implement the joint FAO/WHO Food Standard Programme. About 150 countries including India are members of the commission. The purpose of this commission is to protect the health of consumers and to ensure fair practices in food trade, to promote coordination of all food standard work undertaken by international and Governmental organizations, to determine priorities and initiate and guide the preparation of draft standards through and with the aid of appropriate organizations and publish the standards. These standards are accepted by World Trade Organisation (WTO) in setting dispute in international trade. The “Codex-India” National Codex Contact Point (NCCP) for India is located at the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of health and Family Welfare, Government of India.Simply stated, the Codex Alimentarius is a collection of standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations. The Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene introduces the use of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety management system.

iv. Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC)

AOAC is an independent organization promoting method validation and quality measurements in the analytical sciences by reviewing and validating approved standard methods of analysis. AOAC methods are recognized worldwide for their authenticity due to a very rigorous testing procedure.

v. Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (APLAC)

It is the Asia Pacific Laboratory accreditation organization and NABL is a member of this organization.

vi. International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC)

It is the international organization and has an internal criterion for laboratory accreditation and NABL is member of this organization.

vii. World Trade Organisation (WTO)

WTO is the global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. We know that the countries have been engaged in reducing trade barriers associated with the movement of manufactured products since the late 1940s. It began with a small group of industrialized nations which negotiated the first significant trade treaty known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (the GATT). In 1986 the member countries initiated a new GATT Round which became known as the Uruguay Round (1986-1994). The Uruguay Round was the most comprehensive GATT round ever conducted, covering new sectors of trade, such as services, and first time negotiations on agricultural trade. The Uruguay Round also resulted in the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), including several Committees within the WTO structure to monitor implementation of the various agreements and to administer the dispute settlement procedures. Thus the WTO trading system came into existence in 1995 as the successor to the General agreement on Tariffs and Trade (G ATT) .The WTO agreement covers goods, services and intellectual property. The agreement spells out the principles of liberalization and the permitted exceptions. It includes individual countries’commitment to lower customs tariffs and other trade barriers and to open and keep open services markets. The WTO outlines procedures for settling disputes.It prescribes special treatment for developing countries. The agreement requires governments to make their trade policies transparent. Some of the important measures are: One of the important agreements is on “Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures (SPS)”: The SPS Agreement recognizes the fundamental right of countries to protect the health and life of their consumers, animals, and plants against pests,diseases, and other threats to health. It set outs the basic rules for food safety and animal and plant health. But it also says regulations must be based on science and are encouraged to use international standards. The objective the SPS Agreement is to ensure that a member country does not use SPS measures as a new form of trade protectionism. The SPS measures can take many forms such as:

 (a) requiring products to come from a disease-free area, (b) inspection of products,(c) specific treatment or processing of products, (d) setting of allowable maximum levels of pesticide residues and (e) permitted use of only certain additives in food.

The primary obligation under the agreement is that SPS protection measures must be based on either a relevant international standard, established by an international standards body recognized by the SPS Agreement, or a scientific risk assessment.

Towards this end, the SPS Agreement encourages countries to harmonize their SPS measures, to the greatest extent possible, by basing their health measures on relevant international standards. Harmonization is intended to reduce unnecessary variances between countries’ technical standards differences which can often be the source of trade friction.