In order for the European Commission to approve the provisional application, it was necessary for one or more Mercosur countries to complete their internal procedures and notify the EU. With the ratification of Uruguay and Argentina, this step is now feasible, allowing both countries to formally request the launch of this phase.

In a February 27 statement, the EC President said that “in January, the European Council authorized the Commission to provisionally apply the Agreement as of the first ratification by a Mercosur country (…) On this basis, the Commission will now proceed with provisional application.”

Despite the political will, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič has warned that technical regulations still need to be finalized, which could delay procedural requirements somewhat.

The European Parliament challenged the legality of the agreement before the EU Court of Justice, and full ratification in Brussels will depend on that ruling. Some critics consider the provisional application to be an “undemocratic” measure by skipping the full European parliamentary debate.

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What tariff de-escalation will look like

To know the exact reduction, it is necessary to check in the appendix to which allowance category each item was assigned. The general categories and their methods of reduction detailed in the sources are:

• Category 0: Customs duties are eliminated immediately upon entry into force of the Agreement.
• Category 4: Elimination is carried out in 5 equal annual stages (20% annual reductions), with goods becoming duty free on January 1 of year 4.
• Category 7: Elimination in 8 equal annual stages (12.5% per year), becoming duty free on January 1 of year 7.
• Category 8: Elimination in 9 equal annual stages (approx. 11.1% per year), becoming duty free on January 1 of year 8.
• Category 10: Elimination in 11 equal annual stages (approx. 9.1% per year), becoming duty free on January 1 of year 10.
• Category 15: Elimination in 16 equal annual stages, becoming duty free on January 1 of year 15.

It is important to note that “Year 0” corresponds to the period from the entry into force of the Agreement until December 31 of the same calendar year, while “Year 1” begins on January 1 of the following year.

If the goods in question are considered “originating” in the European Union under the rules of Chapter 3, they may benefit from this preferential treatment.

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Consult the tariff reduction for your departure.

We have extracted from the text of the treaty the appendix of the Mercosur tariff elimination schedule and converted it into a table that you can consult.

First, we give you an example so that you know how to interpret the table.

Example: 84223010

Basic Types

The prime rate represents the tariff that each Mercosur country applies to goods originating in the European Union at the time the Agreement enters into force.

• Argentina (14%) and Uruguay (14%): These countries currently apply a 14% tariff. This is the percentage on which annual rebates will be calculated.
• Brazil (0%) and Paraguay (0%): According to the data you mention, these countries already allow the entry of this product with a 0% tariff. Therefore, access to these markets will continue to be duty free from day one.

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2. Staggering Category: 15

For Argentina and Uruguay, which have an initial tariff of 14%, Category 15 establishes a long-term tariff reduction schedule:

• Duration: The tariff will be eliminated in a total of 16 equal annual stages.
• Duty-free: The product will be totally exempt from customs duties (0%) on January 1, Year 15 after entry into force.

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3. Detailed rebate schedule (for Argentina and Uruguay)

Following the reduction schedule set forth in Annex 2-A of the Agreement, the 14% tariff will decrease as follows:

• Year 0 (entry into force): A 6.3% reduction on the prime rate is applied. The tariff decreases from 14% to approximately 13.1%.
• Year 1: The cumulative reduction is 12.5%. The tariff drops to 12.25%.
• Year 7 (midpoint): A 50% preference is achieved. The tariff will be 7%.
• Year 14: The tariff will be 0.87% (93.8% preference).
• Year 15: 0% (100% preference) is reached.