Trade barriers or trade facilitators? The heterogeneous impact of food standards in international trade

Recent research shows that the effect of food standards can beheterogeneous across sectors or countries: theysometimes act as barriers to trade, but in other cases may lead to increased trade. I present empirical evidence on Norwegian seafood export showing that foreign food standards, measured by SPS notificationsto the WTO, generallyhave a negative impact on total exports, the number of exporters and their average exports. However, for fresh seafood,there is a positive counteracting effect. I present a theoretical explanation for this, suggesting that food standards reduce consumer uncertainty about quality and safety and therefore increase demand.