Chairperson and Vice-Chairpersons of the Commission
Rule III of the rules of procedures of the Codex Alimentarius Commission states that the Commission shall elect a Chairperson and three Vice-Chairpersons from its Members. These Officers are elected at each session and hold office from the end of the session at which they were elected until the end of the following regular session. They can be re-elected twice.
Current Officers
Chairperson Steve Wearne
Wearne is Director of Global Affairs at the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency. His career spans over 30 years in UK Government and international food regulation, focusing on issues across food policy and science and ranging from additives and sweeteners to veterinary residues and other contaminants in food as well as the modernization of regulatory practice. He is committed to delivering an inclusive, transparent and resilient Codex based on consensus-driven and science-based food standards.
Vice-Chairperson Allan Azegele
Allan Azegele has over 26 years’ experience in public service and is currently a Senior Deputy Director of Veterinary Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Co-operatives, Kenya. As a member of the National Codex Committee he has led technical work on residues of veterinary drugs in food and AMR, also serving as a technical expert for the Africa Union. He was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior by H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of the Republic of Kenya.
Vice-Chairperson Raj Rajasekar
Raj Rajasekar is Senior Programme Manager in the Ministry for Primary Industries, New Zealand. Raj has over 40 years of experience with the New Zealand Government in the areas of domestic and international agricultural policy, food regulation and international trade. He has contributed to capacity building programmes in some 20 developing countries across Asia and the Pacific, Africa and the Near East, for Codex, food regulation and standards development.
Vice-Chairperson Diego Varela
Diego Varela is Director of the Food Safety and Quality Agency (ACHIPIA), Chile. Previously as Coordinator for International Affairs at ACHIPIA he oversaw Codex at the national level, liaising with FAO and WHO (for Codex) and other organizations such as Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), OECD, World Bank and WTO. He also served as Chairperson of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Click here for a full list of past officers