Currently the Codex Alimentarius Commission has:

185 Codex Members - 184 Member Countries and 1 Member Organization (EU)

205 Codex Observers - 48 IGOs, 141 NGOs, 16 UN.

Members

Membership of the Commission is open to all Member Nations and Associate Members of FAO and WHO which are interested in international food standards. Regional economic integration organizations that are members of either FAO or WHO can also become members and special rules apply. To apply for membership please click here.

Observer nations

Any Member Nation or Associate Member of FAO or WHO which is not a Member of the Commission, may, upon request, attend sessions of the Commission and of its subsidiary bodies and ad hoc meetings as observers. Nations which, while not Member Nations or Associate Members of FAO or WHO, are members of the United Nations, may be invited on their request to attend meetings of the Commission as observers. To request an invitation interested Nations should write to the Codex Secretariat at least one month before the session.
 
Observer organizations

For the participation of observers from other UN Organizations, IGOs and NGOs the following applies:

• UN organizations should fill in the application form and Observer status will be granted.
• IGOs or NGOs that have official relations with either FAO or WHO should fill in the application form and observer status will be granted.
• IGOs that have no official relations with either FAO or WHO should fill in the application form. The application will be examined by the Codex Secretariat and the legal offices of FAO and WHO. In the process further questions may be asked of the applicant.
• NGOs that have no official relations with either FAO or WHO should fill in the application form and submit related information as requested in the form. The organization should study the text on NGO participation before applying to check if it fulfils the criteria. The application will be examined by the Codex Secretariat and the legal offices of FAO and WHO as well as the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The Executive Committee then makes a recommendation to on the application to the Directors General of FAO and WHO.

General public

All Codex meetings are public to the limits of available space. Members of the public wishing to attend a Codex session should write to the Codex Secretariat at least one month before the session.