An RFID system that is capable of increasing the probability of a spare channel being detected and reducing the influence of interference between reader/writers comprises: a reader/writer which has a reader/writer main body section and an antenna capable of polarization switching, and which sends a continuous carrier wave; and a tag which uses tag information to modulate the continuous carrier wave and sends back a response signal to the reader/writer. The reader/writer main body section judges the level of a received interference signal and determines a channel and polarization direction for which the level of the interference signal is equal to or less than a threshold value, and receives a response signal from the tag on the determined channel and in the polarization direction.