Exploring the Inhibitory Effect of RASFF on China-EU Trade of Rice-Based Products

Rice-based products exported from China to Europe have repeatedly encountered technical trade barriers. Using panel data from 24 states of the European Union during 2001–2017, this study builds a theoretical model to investigate the impact of implementation, intensity and structure of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) on China-EU rice-based product trade. The study found that RASFF has a serious inhibitory effect on the trade of traditional rice-based products because of detecting GM ingredients, showing an obvious lag effect, diffusion effect and structure effect. The negative effect occurs in entry process, and the inhibitory effect of border rejection and information notifications results in time lag, but the marginal effect of alerts for market links is insignificant. Moreover, the positive information disclosure effect of technical barriers implemented by individual members is much smaller than the negative diffusion effect. Finally, countermeasures and suggestions are proposed, including the source supervision of the test, the supervision of GM variety approval and GM seed production, the establishment of an early-warning and rapid-response mechanism to technical barriers of agricultural products, and food enterprise information.