See previous circulars
Attached consolidated text from 17th December.
On 17th December, the Council presidency and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a regulation implementing the bilateral safeguard clause of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement and the EU-Mercosur interim Trade Agreement for agricultural products.
The draft regulation sets out how, in the context of the Mercosur trade agreement, the European Commission could decide to temporarily suspend tariff preferences on the import of certain agricultural products considered sensitive (such as poultry or beef) from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay if these imports are seen to be harming EU producers.
This agreement is without prejudice to the ongoing discussions within the Council on the signature and conclusion of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement and interim Trade Agreement.
Main elements of the agreement
The most important measures agreed are:
- An increase in import volume of more than 8% compared to the three-year average would be evidence of serious injury and would trigger an investigation into suspending preferential tariffs
- A decrease in prices of more than 8% compared to the three-year average would also be treated as serious injury and give reason to start an investigation.
- The Commission may extend the scope of its monitoring to non-sensitive products, upon request by the EU industry.
- Investigations should be concluded within at least 6 months in the case of non-sensitive products and as quickly as possible but certainly after 3 months in the case of sensitive products.
- For sensitive products there will be the possibility to adopt provisional measures, without delay and within 21 days after a notification.
- The Commission will constantly and proactively monitor imports of sensitive products and produce a monitoring report, at least every 6 months, with an assessment of the impact of those imports, and report to Parliament and Council.
- The exchange of data between member states and the Commission will be improved.
- The European Commission will issue a statement ensuring stronger alignment of production standards applied to imported products, notably on animal welfare and pesticides from Mercosur countries.
The Commission will constantly and proactively monitor imports of identified sensitive products and report at least every six months to the Parliament and the Council on market developments and any risk of injury to EU producers. The co-legislators agreed to strengthen this framework by allowing the monitoring to be extended, if duly requested by EU industry to other products not covered by the list of sensitive products. In addition, the Commission will issue technical guidelines by 1 March 2026 to support market monitoring at national and local level. The agreed text also introduces provisions allowing the Commission to act where it identifies circumvention of safeguard measures by extending the scope of measures or adopting other necessary implementing actions
Next steps
The text of the provisional agreement will now have to be endorsed and adopted by both institutions before being published in the official journal. The regulation will apply to the interim Trade Agreement from its entry into force and will continue to apply once the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement enters into force.
Full details in Press releases by
Council: EU-Mercosur: Council and Parliament agree on rules to safeguard the EU agri-food sector - Consilium
European Parliament: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20251217IPR32258/mercosur-parliament-and-council-agree-on-agriculture-safeguards
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