The Agreement between the European Union and Mercosur is the largest free trade agreement reached by the South American bloc since its establishment in 1991 and represents one of the most significant economic integration processes of recent decades.
It is a complex Agreement that presents numerous technical and practical challenges for operators in both blocs, and whose effective utilization will require a detailed analysis of its multiple tariff, regulatory, sanitary and environmental provisions.
Argentina incorporated the Agreement into its domestic legal system through Law No. 27,800 and Decree No. 111/26, and, since 1 May 2026, it has been provisionally applied with respect to its trade pillar.
Provisional application makes it possible to eliminate tariffs from the outset, thereby providing greater predictability for trade and investment and delivering immediate benefits to companies. The European Union will eliminate 92% of the tariffs applicable to Mercosur exports and will grant additional preferences on the remaining 7.5% through tariff quotas and fixed tariff preferences.
The Agreement is expected to increase bilateral trade and, in particular, to provide a significant boost to exports of goods from Mercosur to the EU.
For these purposes, the Agreement establishes rules of origin structured around technical criteria such as changes in tariff classification, regional value content, and novel bilateral cumulation mechanisms, which allow inputs originating in one Party and used in the production of a good in the other Party to be considered originating, provided that such inputs have undergone processing or transformation.
The Agreement also introduces a structural transformation in the manner in which the origin of goods is substantiated. The traditional system based on certificates issued by certifying entities is being abandoned in favor of a model of self-certification by the exporter itself.
This new mechanism makes it possible to reduce costs, third-party involvement and processing times associated with commercial transactions. However, it places the primary responsibility for substantiating the origin of goods on the economic operator, together with the obligation to maintain documentary traceability as a key element in the event of verifications by the importing country.
In Argentina, “Origin Declarations” have been implemented pursuant to Provision No. 1/2026 of the Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade, with an electronic signature and the legal status of a sworn declaration, through the Remote Procedures Platform (Trámites a Distancia — TAD). Such declaration is valid for twelve months. The importer may claim the preferential treatment for up to two years following the importation and, for such purposes, both the Argentine exporter and the European importer must retain the supporting documentation for a minimum period of three years.
Notwithstanding this development, a transitional period of up to five years from the entry into force of the Agreement is contemplated, during which Argentina may continue to use certificates of origin issued by duly authorized entities, in electronic format and in Spanish, Portuguese or English.
European Union exporters, for their part, will issue an origin declaration on the relevant invoice, delivery note or any other commercial document, describing the originating product in sufficient detail to enable its identification.
For Argentine companies, this may provide preferential access to a traditionally highly protected market, create new business opportunities and substantially enhance their international competitiveness.
However, there is one aspect that is often overlooked in the debate: the Agreement does not eliminate the need to comply with regulatory, sanitary, phytosanitary and environmental requirements, which remain fully in force and, in many cases, become more stringent in their practical application.
Indeed, in order to benefit from the tariff reductions contemplated by the Agreement, Mercosur exports must comply with the sanitary and phytosanitary measures in force in the country of importation.
Although the Agreement provides that such sanitary and phytosanitary measures must be applied proportionately and without discrimination between the Parties, in practice several European Union countries — including France, Poland and Ireland, where agricultural and environmental sectors have expressed strong opposition — have raised concerns regarding the Agreement.
This political context is not insignificant. Although the legal text guarantees non-discriminatory treatment, it is foreseeable that certain Member States may seek to impose stricter controls, audits and phytosanitary requirements as a means of mitigating the impact of the Agreement on their domestic markets.
Among other powers, the importing Party may require the prior approval of establishments exporting animals and products of animal origin, prepare and publish lists of authorized establishments, and deny or revoke such authorization where the applicable sanitary requirements are not met.
The Agreement also provides for verifications and audits of the official control system of the exporting country, aimed at assessing the capacity of its competent authorities to ensure that products comply with European sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
From a phytosanitary standpoint, each Party must establish and make available to the other Party a list of regulated pests and of plants and plant products subject to specific requirements, which must be limited to what is strictly necessary to protect plant health.
The Agreement also provides for mechanisms for the recognition of equivalence, pest- or disease-free areas and compartments, aligned with international standards, as well as a mandatory consultation procedure for resolving differences concerning the compatibility of sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
In situations involving serious risks to human, animal or plant health, the importing Party retains the authority to adopt emergency measures. These requirements are complemented by obligations concerning traceability, animal welfare and, in more sensitive areas, such as agricultural biotechnology.
For exporters, this means that the wording of the Agreement does not eliminate the risk of greater regulatory stringency in practice and reinforces the need to anticipate and rigorously document sanitary and phytosanitary compliance in each transaction.
All of this means that, before designing any commercial strategy, it is essential to analyze the applicable rules of origin, local regulatory requirements, the relevant sanitary and phytosanitary requirements, and the certification and traceability mechanisms required for each product.
It should also be noted that the Agreement includes a chapter on “Trade and Sustainable Development,” which incorporates the “Paris Agreement” on climate change as an essential element. This would allow for the suspension of the application of the Agreement if either Party withdraws from the “Paris Agreement” or ceases to be a party thereto in “good faith.”
The EU-Mercosur Agreement also contains specific commitments to halt deforestation and legally enforceable commitments concerning sustainable development, including labor rights.
In the agri-food sector, this translates into increasingly stringent sustainability requirements: exporting companies will be required to geolocate their production plots, demonstrate the absence of deforestation occurring after 2020, and ensure full traceability of their production, in line with the due diligence standards currently required under European legislation.
Environmental compliance thus becomes a market-access condition as relevant as tariffs or certificates of origin, particularly for agri-industrial products, which account for a substantial portion of the opportunities created by the Agreement.
Furthermore, the Agreement includes a specific chapter dedicated to small and medium-sized enterprises, the purpose of which is to ensure that SMEs can effectively benefit from the opportunities generated by the new trade framework. Among its most relevant measures is enhanced information-sharing regarding market-access conditions, together with the creation of databases containing tariff, tax and rules-of-origin information at the tariff-line level, thereby enabling SMEs to accurately assess the conditions applicable to each product.
Ultimately, each product and each market presents particular challenges. Accordingly, before exporting, each company must conduct a detailed and product-specific analysis of each good it intends to ship to the European Union, comprehensively reviewing the applicable tariff, origin, sanitary, phytosanitary and environmental requirements, since these vary significantly depending on the product, tariff classification and sector concerned.
In this new trade environment, the companies that succeed in properly coordinating and addressing these technical aspects will be those that are truly able to capitalize on the benefits and opportunities afforded by the Agreement. Increasing exports is important, but doing so with legal certainty and adequate predictability is fundamental.