Improving Agricultural Market Performance

Creation and Development of Market Institutions

3.3 Legislative Frameworks of Agricultural & Food Market Institutions in the

OIC

Legislative frameworks and regulation for food markets largely concern the enabling language

for Commodity Market Regulation Authorities as listed in the conceptual framework. As a

result the materials covered in the following two sections are largely limited to these activities

(unless otherwise noted).

Not all of the 57 OIC Member Countries have passed specific legislation for food market

institutions. Those that have, have either done so piecemeal (as a result of specific

commodities for which they have a market interest), or have done more comprehensively.

Areas for which legislation is often in place include food safety and security. Other areas for

which legislation is often in place include:



Food safety



Food and drug purity and additives



Labelling and packaging



Documentation and certification



Import procedures



The more advance Member Countries have specifically embraced the Codex Alimentarius of

the World Health Organization (WHO) and used this as the guide for establishing their

regulatory universe. While Palestine is alone in being the only OIC Member state who is not

also a member of the Codex, the various Member Countries have each adopted the Codex’s

guideline to varying levels.

While some version of legislation is in place in each of the OIC Member Countries, it is

important to reinforce the point that few of the nations have a truly integrated approach to

food and agricultural regulation. As an example, Pakistan does not have an integrated legal

framework but has a set of laws that deal with various aspects of food safety. Food safety

standards were first established and published in the Pakistan Pure Food Laws (PFL) of 1963

and revised in 2007. The PFL is the basis for the existing trade-related food quality and safety

legislative framework. It covers 104 food items falling under nine broad categories. These

regulations address purity issues in raw food and deal with additives, food preservatives, food

and synthetic colors, antioxidants, and heavy metals. However, these laws do

not

then relate to

the other areas of food markets identified above.

Other OIC Member Countries are at a far different state of regulation and integration into the

global food market. For example, Turkey is well along in its process of integration into the

European Union (EU) and – as a part of this process – has worked steadily to harmonize

national food and agriculture laws and regulations with the EU

acquis communitaire.

The

Turkish Government’s Law no. 5996 on Veterinary Services, Phytosanitary, Food and Feed

(2010) was a main instrument in driving this coordination by providing a comprehensive

framework for protecting and ensuring public health, food and feed safety, animal health and

welfare, plant health and consumer interests, as well as environmental protection. This was

the first time in the nation’s history that such legislation aimed to cover all stages of

production, processing and distribution of food, as well as materials and articles intended to

come into contact with food and feed. It also provided regulations for entry and exit