International Cooperation

The harmonization of laws, regulations and standards between and among trading partners is
important to food safety and requires intense, complex, time-consuming negotiations by
CFSAN officials. Harmonization must simultaneously facilitate international trade and promote
mutual understanding, while protecting national interests and establishing a basis to resolve
food issues on sound scientific evidence in an objective atmosphere. Failure to reach a
consistent, harmonized set of laws, regulations and standards within the free trade agreements
and the World Trade Organization Agreements can result in considerable economic
repercussions.

Codex Alimentarius Commission

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), created in 1963, is an intergovernmental body
with over 170 members within the framework of the Joint Food Standards Programme
established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the
World Health Organization (WHO). The Commissions purpose is to protect the health of
consumers and to ensure fair practices in the food trade. It also promotes coordination of all
food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental
organizations.
The Codex Alimentarius, a result of the Commission's work, is a collection of internationally
adopted food standards, guidelines, codes of practice and other recommendations and is the
major international mechanism for encouraging fair international trade in food while promoting
the health and economic interest of consumers.

Systems Recognition
Systems recognition, previously referred to as comparability, involves reviewing a foreign
countrys food safety regulatory system to determine if it provides a similar set of protections to
that of FDA. Outcomes of these reviews may be used by FDA to make risk-based decisions
regarding foreign inspections, admitting product into the U.S. and follow-up actions when food
safety incidents occur.
Once assessments are completed, systems recognition arrangements will lead the way to a
new level of regulatory cooperation between FDA and our regulatory partners in other
countries, allowing us to avoid duplication of effort while leveraging the high quality work done
by regulatory authorities in each country.
FDA, working with New Zealand, pilot tested a systems recognition assessment process using
the draft International Comparability Assessment Tool (ICAT). The process includes a
comprehensive review of the countrys relevant laws and regulations, inspection programs,
response to food-related illness and outbreaks, compliance and enforcement and laboratory
support. The report of the New Zealand assessment and the draft ICAT used in the

assessment are available and provide context to the arrangement signed by FDA and New
Zealands Ministry of Primary Industries.

Draft International Comparability Assessment Tool (ICAT) (PDF: 394KB)

Report of the Comparability Determination of the Food Safety Component of the New
Zealand Minstry for Primary Industries (PDF: 559 KB)

Information for Foreign Governments: Frequently Asked Questions on Systems

Recognition
This document is intended to provide information to foreign governments and other
stakeholders on FDAs proposed systems recognition assessment program, including the
rationale for creating the program, implications of the program, how systems recognition
assessments will be conducted, how information collected will be used, and what impact
systems recognition may have on processes for importing foods. FDA intends to collect
comments to inform its decision making process as FDA considers moving forward from a pilot
phase to implementation. FDA previously used the term comparability assessment to
describe the process of food safety systems evaluation as outlined in this document. FDA has
since adopted the term systems recognition assessment as a more descriptive, plainlanguage term used to describe the same process.

Food and Feed Import Practices of Foreign Governments to Improve

Food Safety
Under contract to the U.S. FDA, Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), in collaboration with
independent subject matter experts, undertook this study of imported food and feed practices
of foreign governments. FDA's objective was to better understand the practices used by other
mature food safety systems that have similar public health goals to that of the U.S. and to
perform a qualitative analysis of those import practices identified. The contractors reviewed
publicly available literature and interviewed country officials involved in the importation of food
and feed using a validated semi-structured interview protocol. The study was conducted from
January to November 2011.
The countries selected for the study included: Australia, Canada, Chile, Ireland, Israel, Japan,
Mexico, New Zealand (NZ), the Netherlands, and South Africa. Interviews were conducted with
each country's officials (with the exception of Japan) either in-person or via digital video
conference and focused on a variety of topics ranging from government authorities and
private sector involvement in the safety of imported food and feed to meeting World Trade
Organization (WTO) obligations.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/InternationalInteragencyCoordination/InternationalCooperation/defaul
t.htm