The EU Council on Thursday signed off on safeguard measures to shield local farmers from potential market disturbances arising from the Mercosur trade deal, whose entry into force is looming.

The trade agreement – covering Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – is expected to be provisionally applied in the coming months after Montevideo and Buenos Aires fully ratified it last week. Brasília followed on Wednesday.

The safeguard mechanism was negotiated between the European Parliament and the Council last December, but was later reopened to persuade sceptical countries, particularly Italy, to support the deal.

The measures represent a landmark protection mechanism and would even allow Brussels to reimpose tariffs if an investigation finds imports are harming key production sectors.

The mechanism covers “sensitive” products – including poultry, beef, rice, honey, eggs, garlic, ethanol, sugar and citrus – and would be triggered if the market disruption involves a 5% drop in EU prices and a 5% increase in import volumes compared with the three-year average, or a 5% fall in import prices.

A majority of 24 countries voted in favour of the regulation, with only Hungary voting against while Austria and Belgium abstained. The European Parliament cleared the text last month.

The adopted text will enter into force 20 days after the Commission publishes it in the EU’s Official Journal. It will apply to both the provisionally-applied trade deal and the broader partnership agreement that must still be fully ratified.

While voting in favour of the safeguards, Latvia issued a statement acknowledging the concerns of farmers – a move that may play into the country’s upcoming national elections this autumn.

(adm, aw)