RCEP member countries WTO study on measures for trade in food labelling in the past decade

ObjectiveTo summarize the characteristics and overall development trends of food labeling trade measures in various countries in the past decades， providing technical reference for national adjustments to food safety supervision measures and trade policies. It also aims to help enterprises going global better understand the dynamics of food labeling trade measures in Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership （RCEP） member countries， thereby enhancing the level of international competition of Chinese food enterprises.MethodStatistical， differentiated， and trend analyses were conducted on the 381 notifications related to food labeling measures submitted by RCEP member countries to the WTO from 2014 to 2023.ResultsIn summary， the food labeling trade measures of RCEP member countries encompass three major characteristics： language barriers， detail and concealment， and high extensibility. Additionally， there are four major development trends： using food labeling trade measures to protect domestic advantaged industries， promoting national food safety regulatory concepts to enhance international influence， innovating nutritional labeling requirements to cultivate healthy eating habits among citizens， and safeguarding consumers’ right to know to deeply enhance humanistic care.ConclusionSuggestions are made to support national health and the sustainable high-quality development of China’s food industry under the RCEP agreement by： （1） reasonable food labeling rules should be formulated， （2） construct a database of food labeling regulations and promote the development of an AI-based food labeling system，（3）establish a risk early warning mechanism for food technical trade measures， and make full use of the Special Trade Concerns （STC） mechanism， and （4） formulating intuitive and easy-to-understand guidelines for nutritional labeling.