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Notices
Federal Register Vol. 86, No. 106
Friday, June 4, 2021

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains documents other than rules or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings, delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency statements of organization and functions are examples of documents appearing in this section.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
U.S. Codex Office Docket No. USDA2021XXXX

International Standard-Setting Activities Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs TFAA, USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:

This notice informs the public of the sanitary and phytosanitary standard-setting activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission Codex, in accordance with the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, as amended, and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. This notice also provides a list of other standard-setting activities of Codex, including commodity standards, guidelines, codes of practice, and revised texts. This notice, which covers Codex activities during the time periods from June 21,2020 to May 31, 2021 and June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022, seeks comments on standards under consideration and recommendations for new standards.
ADDRESSES: The U.S. Codex Office USCO invites interested persons to submit their comments on this notice.
Comments may be submitted by one of the following methods:
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: This website provides the ability to type short comments directly into the comment field on this web page or attach a file for lengthier comments. Go to http www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions at the website for submitting comments.
Mail, including CDROMs, etc.:
Send to Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Mailstop S4861, Washington, DC 202503700.
Handor courier-delivered submittals: Deliver to 1400
SUMMARY:

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Independence Avenue SW, Room 4861, Washington, DC 202503700.
Instructions: All items submitted by mail or email are to include the Agency name and docket number USDA2021
XXXX. Comments received in response to this docket will be made available for public inspection and posted without change, including any personal information to http
www.regulations.gov.
Please state that your comments refer to Codex and, if your comments relate to specific Codex committees, please identify the committees in your comments and submit a copy of your comments to the delegate from that committee.
Docket: For access to background documents or comments received, call 202 7205627 to schedule a time to visit the TFAA Docket Room at 1400
Independence Avenue SW, Room S4861, Washington, DC 202503700.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Mary Frances Lowe, United States Manager for Codex Alimentarius, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Office of the Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Codex Office, South Agriculture Building, 1400
Independence Avenue SW, Room 4861, Washington, DC 202503700;
Telephone: +1 202 2057760; Fax: +1
202 7203157; Email: uscodex@
usda.gov.
For information pertaining to committees, contact the delegate of that committee. A complete list of U.S.
delegates and alternate delegates can be found in Attachment 2 of this notice.
Documents pertaining to Codex and specific committee agendas are accessible via the internet at http
www.fao.org/fao-whocodexalimentarius/meetings/en/. The U.S. Codex Office USCO also maintains a website at http
www.usda.gov/codex.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background The World Trade Organization WTO
was established on January 1, 1995, as the common international institutional framework for the conduct of trade relations among its members in matters related to the Uruguay Round Trade Agreements. The WTO is the successor organization to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade GATT. United States membership in the WTO was
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approved and the Uruguay Round Agreements Act Uruguay Round Agreements was signed into law by the President on December 8, 1994, Public Law 103465, 108 Stat. 4809. The Uruguay Round Agreements became effective, with respect to the United States, on January 1, 1995. The Uruguay Round Agreements amended the Trade Agreements Act of 1979. Pursuant to section 491 of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979, as amended, the President is required to designate an agency to be responsible for informing the public of the sanitary and phytosanitary SPS
standard-setting activities of each international standard-setting organization 19 U.S.C. 2578. The main international standard-setting organizations are Codex, the World Organisation for Animal Health OIE, and the International Plant Protection Convention. The President, pursuant to Proclamation No. 6780 of March 23, 1995, 60 FR 15845, designated the U.S.
Department of Agriculture as the agency responsible for informing the public of the SPS standard-setting activities of each international standard-setting organization. The Secretary of Agriculture has delegated to the Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Mission Area the responsibility to inform the public of the SPS standardsetting activities of Codex. The Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Mission Area has, in turn, assigned the responsibility for informing the public of the SPS standard-setting activities of Codex to the U.S. Codex Office USCO.
Codex was created in 1963 by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture Organization FAO and the World Health Organization WHO.
Codex is the principal international organization for establishing standards for food. Through adoption of food standards, codes of practice, and other guidelines developed by its committees, and by promoting their adoption and implementation by governments, Codex seeks to protect the health of consumers, ensure fair practices in the food trade, and promote coordination of food standards work undertaken by international governmental and nongovernmental organizations. In the United States, U.S. Codex activities are managed and carried out by the United States Department of Agriculture USDA; the Food and Drug Administration FDA, Department of
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