LegalizeRegulation (EU) 2026/687 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2026 implementing the bilateral safeguard clauses of the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement and the EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement for agricultural products
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 207(2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (1),
Whereas:
(1) The EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (the ‘EMPA’) and the EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement (the ‘ITA’) grant to products originating in or destined for Mercosur countries preferential treatment and include bilateral safeguard clauses for the temporary withdrawal of tariff preferences. The specificities of some agricultural products subject to those Agreements (the ‘Agreements’), as well as the vulnerable situation of the Union’s outermost regions as referred to in Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) require ad hoc provisions.
(2) The EMPA and the ITA aim to protect Union producers of sensitive products in the agriculture sector by limiting preferences to tariff rate quotas.
(3) The Union maintains its right to take global safeguard measures in accordance with the WTO Agreement on Safeguards and the EMPA and the ITA.
(4) The Union is determined to make swift and effective use of the bilateral safeguard clauses to counteract possible negative impacts of the tariff reductions pursuant to the EMPA and the ITA, including for products whose market access is constrained by the limits contained in tariff rate quotas.
(5) It is necessary to lay down procedures to guarantee the effective implementation of the bilateral safeguard clauses for agricultural products.
(6) A delay in applying justified safeguard measures could lead to injury to Union farmers in one or more Member States that could be difficult to remedy.
(7) It is therefore appropriate to lay down specific procedures in line with the Agreements to guarantee a timely implementation of the bilateral safeguard clauses in the EMPA and the ITA as regards certain sensitive agricultural products.
(8) Safeguard measures are only to be considered where the product in question is imported into the Union in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to Union production, and under such conditions as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to Union producers of like or directly competitive products. Safeguard measures should take one of the forms referred to in the Agreements.
(9) The follow-up to and review of the EMPA and the ITA, the conduct of investigations and, where appropriate, the imposition of safeguard measures should be carried out in the most transparent manner possible.
(10) Member States should inform the Commission of any trends in imports which might call for the imposition of safeguard measures.
(11) The reliability of statistics relating to all imports from the countries concerned to the Union is crucial when determining whether the conditions for the imposition of safeguard measures are met.
(12) The close monitoring of any sensitive products should facilitate timely decisions concerning the possible initiation of investigations and the subsequent imposition of safeguard measures. Therefore, the Commission should constantly and proactively monitor imports of any sensitive products from the date of entry into force of the EMPA or the ITA. Monitoring should be extended to other products or sectors if the relevant Union industry makes a duly justified request to the Commission. The Commission should present a monitoring report at least every six months, containing its assessment of the impact of imports of sensitive products benefitting from preferential market access under the Agreements, including data on import volumes and prices for all sensitive products.
(13) It is also necessary to set time limits for the initiation of investigations and for determinations as to whether safeguard measures are appropriate, with a view to ensuring that such determinations are made quickly, thereby increasing legal certainty for the economic operators concerned.
(14) In critical circumstances, the Commission should swiftly impose provisional safeguard measures.
(15) Safeguard measures should be applied only to the extent, and for such time as, necessary to prevent serious injury and to facilitate adjustment. The maximum duration of safeguard measures should be determined, and specific provisions regarding the extension and review of such measures should be laid down.
(16) In order to amend the Annex to this Regulation, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending the list of sensitive products. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (2). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
(17) The implementation of the bilateral safeguard clauses and the putting in place of transparent criteria for the temporary suspension of tariff preferences provided for in the Agreements require uniform conditions for the adoption of provisional and definitive safeguard measures, the imposition of prior surveillance measures, the termination of an investigation without measures, and the temporary suspension of the tariff preferences.
(18) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3).
(19) The advisory procedure should be used for the adoption of prior surveillance measures and provisional safeguard measures, given the effects of those measures and their sequential logic in relation to the adoption of definitive safeguard measures. The examination procedure should apply to the imposition of definitive safeguard measures and for the review of such measures.
(20) The Commission should adopt immediately applicable implementing acts where imperative grounds of urgency so require if, in duly justified cases, a delay in the imposition of provisional safeguard measures would cause damage which would be difficult to repair or in order to prevent a negative impact on the Union market as a result of an increase in imports.
(21) Provision should be made for the treatment of confidential information so that business secrets are not disclosed.
(22) The Commission should submit an annual report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the application of the safeguard measures,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1
Subject matter and scope
This Regulation lays down provisions for the implementation of the bilateral safeguard clauses contained in the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement (the ‘EMPA’) and the EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement (the ‘ITA’) in relation to agricultural products.
Article 2
Definitions
For the purposes of this Regulation:
(1) ‘Agreement’ means the ITA and, after its entry into force, the EMPA;
(2) ‘bilateral safeguard clause’ means a provision relating to the temporary suspension of tariff preferences that is set out in the bilateral safeguard measures chapter of the Agreement;
(4) ‘Union industry’ means either the Union producers, as a whole, of the like or directly competitive product who operate within the territory of the Union or Union producers whose collective output of the like or directly competitive product normally constitutes more than 50 % and in exceptional circumstances not less than 25 % of the total production of such product;
(5) ‘serious injury’ means a significant overall impairment to the position of the Union industry;
(6) ‘threat of serious injury’ means a serious injury that is clearly imminent, based on facts and not merely on allegation, conjecture or remote possibility;
(7) ‘products’ means agricultural products listed in Annex 1 to the WTO Agreement on Agriculture subject to tariff reduction commitment as indicated in Appendix 10-A-1 (Tariff Elimination Schedule for the European Union) to the EMPA and Appendix 2-A-1 (Tariff Elimination Schedule for the European Union) to the ITA;
(8) ‘sensitive products’ means products referred to in the Annex to this Regulation;
(11) ‘country concerned’ means Mercosur as a sole entity or one or more Mercosur States that are parties to the Agreement.
Article 3
Principles
A safeguard measure may be imposed in accordance with this Regulation where a product originating in a country concerned is imported into the Union:
(a) in such increased quantities, in absolute terms or relative to Union production or consumption; and
(b) under such conditions, as to cause or threaten to cause serious injury to the Union industry; and
(c) the increase in imports is the result of the effect of obligations incurred under the Agreement, including of the reduction or the elimination of the customs duties on that product.
A safeguard measure may take one of the following forms:
(a) a suspension of a further reduction of the rate of customs duty on the product concerned provided for in Annex 10-A (Tariff Elimination Schedule) to the EMPA and Annex 2-A (Tariff Elimination Schedule) to the ITA with the country concerned;
Article 4
Monitoring
The Commission shall constantly and proactively monitor the Union market of sensitive products, in particular as regards import and export trends, production and price developments, with the support of the Union market observatories established by Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4). For that purpose, the Commission shall cooperate and exchange data with Member States, the European Parliament and the Union industry on a regular basis.
The Commission shall rapidly assess the market situation based on the monitoring referred to in paragraph 1, by linking a possible increase in imports for the relevant sensitive products with the evolution of production or consumption, price and market share on the Union market, as well as exports from the Union.
Upon a duly justified request by the Union industry concerned, the Commission may extend the scope of the monitoring referred to in paragraph 1 to any products other than those referred to in the Annex.
Cooperation and exchange of data shall be carried out both vertically, between the Commission and the Member States, and horizontally, between the Member States.
No later than one month before the date of entry into force of the Agreement, the Commission shall make available to Member States the technical parameters and types of data that can be monitored in markets at national level.
The Commission shall present a monitoring report to the European Parliament and to the Council at least every six months containing its assessment of the impact of imports of sensitive products benefitting from preferential market access under the Agreement. That report shall cover the Union market and, if relevant, also cover the specific situation in one or several Member States.
Article 5
Initiation of an investigation
An investigation shall be initiated by the Commission at the request of a Member State, of any natural or legal person that is acting on behalf of the Union industry, or of any association not having legal personality that is acting on behalf of the Union industry, where there is sufficient prima facie evidence of serious injury or the threat of serious injury to the Union industry, as determined on the basis of factors referred to in Article 7(5).
Requests for the initiation of an investigation shall contain the following information:
(a) the name and description of the imported product concerned, its tariff heading and the tariff treatment in force, as well as the name and description of the like or directly competitive product;
(b) the names and addresses of the producers or association submitting the request, if applicable;
(c) if reasonably available, a list of all known producers of the like or directly competitive product;
(d) the production volume of producers submitting or represented in the request and an estimation of the production of other known producers of the like or directly competitive product;
(e) the rate and amount of the increase in imports of the product concerned, in absolute and relative terms, for at least the 36 months prior to the date of the presentation of a request to initiate an investigation, for which information is available;
(f) the level of import prices during the same period as well as the price of like or directly competitive products; and
(g) the share of the domestic market taken by the increased imports, and the changes regarding the Union industry with respect to the level of sales in the domestic market, production, inventories, prices for the Union market, productivity, capacity utilisation, profits and losses, and employment, for at least the 36 months prior to the date of presentation of the request, for which information is available.
The scope of the product that is subject to the investigation may cover one or several tariff lines or one or several subsegments of one or several tariff lines, depending on the specific market circumstances, or may follow any product segmentation commonly applied in the Union industry.
An investigation may also be initiated where there is a surge of imports concentrated in one or several Member States, provided that there is sufficient prima facie evidence of serious injury or the threat of serious injury to the Union industry, as determined on the basis of factors referred to in Article 7(5).
The Commission shall provide a copy of the request to initiate an investigation to the Member States before it initiates the investigation.
Where it is apparent to the Commission that there is sufficient prima facie evidence to justify the initiation of an investigation, the Commission shall initiate the investigation and shall publish a notice on initiation of investigation (the ‘notice of initiation’) in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Commission shall initiate the investigation within one month from the date on which the Commission receives the request pursuant to paragraph 1.
In line with the Agreement, the notice of initiation shall include the following information:
(a) the name of the applicant;
(b) the complete description of the imported product under investigation and its classification under the Harmonized System;
(c) the deadline for the request for hearings;
(d) the deadlines to register as an interested party and for the submission of information, statements and other documents;
(e) the address where the request and other documents related to the investigation can be examined;
(f) the name, address and email address or telephone or fax number of the institution which can provide further information; and
(g) a summary of the facts on which the initiation of the investigation was based, including data on imports that have allegedly increased in absolute or relative terms to total production and an analysis of the Union industry situation based on all the elements conveyed in the request.
Article 6
Initiation of an investigation for sensitive products
Without prejudice to Article 5, the Commission shall initiate an investigation concerning sensitive products without delay, where there is sufficient prima facie evidence, for example obtained by means of the monitoring and market situation assessment referred to in Article 4(1) and (2), of serious injury or the threat of serious injury to the Union industry, including where it may be geographically concentrated in one or several Member States.
The Commission shall, as a matter of priority, examine whether prima facie evidence as referred to in paragraph 1 exists in cases where there is a surge of imports or a decrease in domestic prices concentrated in one or several Member States, or where there is a surge of imports or a decrease in the price of a product and the Union producers of like or directly competitive products are predominantly established in one or several Member States.
The Commission shall, in the absence of contrary indications, treat an increase in volume of more than 5 % compared to the three-year average, as a rule, of the imports under preferential terms of a given product from a country concerned as prima facie evidence of serious injury, or the threat of serious injury to the Union industry, if, at the same time, the average import price for those imports from a country concerned is at least 5 %, as a rule, below the relevant average domestic price of like or directly competitive products during the same period, based on available data.
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