Mercosur TradeFlow
The EU–Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement has been provisionally applied since 1 May 2026. Poland's action for annulment before the EU Court of Justice (Case C-460/26) is pending. Savings shown are estimates. Official Journal notice

EU–Mercosur trade agreement FAQ

Is the EU–Mercosur agreement in force?

It's provisionally applied, which in practice means the trade rules and the tariff cuts apply. Provisional application started on 1 May 2026 between the EU and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Formal entry into force is still pending: the European Parliament's request for a Court of Justice opinion and Poland's annulment case (C-460/26) are open, and the wider Partnership Agreement still needs ratification. The agreement status page has the full timeline.

When do tariffs go down?

The first cut applied on 1 May 2026, the start of year 0. Every later cut takes effect on 1 January. How fast a product's duty falls depends on its staging category in the schedule: category 0 was duty-free straight away, category 4 reaches zero in five steps (on 1 January 2030), and category 10 in eleven steps (on 1 January 2036). The glossary explains each category.

Which products are covered?

Almost all of them, but not on the same terms. The EU schedule has 9,376 lines. Of those, 106 are excluded (category E) and keep today's duty, and 317 fall under a tariff-rate quota. The Mercosur schedule has 10,029 lines, with 894 excluded and 39 under a quota. Type your HS code into the calculator to see the treatment of a specific line.

Why does the calculator show a different rate from the one printed in the schedule?

Each schedule line has a base rate, and the cuts are calculated from it. Under Article 2.4(7) of the agreement, if the duty a country applies today is lower than the base rate, the cut is calculated from the applied rate instead, keeping the same relative margin. Fresh boneless beef into Brazil (NCM 0201 30 00) is an example: the base rate is 12%, Brazil applies 10.8% today, so the 2026 preferential rate is 9.8% rather than a figure worked out from 12%.

What is a tariff-rate quota?

A quota sets a volume that can be imported at a lower duty each year. Imports above it pay the normal rate. For fresh beef into the EU, for example, the agreement's quota (BF1) carries a 7.5% duty and grows from 9,075 tonnes carcass weight equivalent in year 0 to 54,450 tonnes from 2031. Our post on how the quotas work goes into detail.

Do I get the lower rate automatically?

No. The preferential rate only applies to goods that meet the agreement's rules of origin, and the importer has to claim it. The calculator doesn't check origin. It assumes your goods qualify. See rules of origin for an overview and links to the official guidance.

Why can't the calculator find my code?

The schedules were negotiated on older nomenclatures: CN 2013 for the EU and NCM 2012 for Mercosur. Some codes have been split or renumbered since. About 88.6% of the EU lines and 91.6% of the Mercosur lines still exist with the same code today. If your current code isn't in the schedule, the calculator says so. Try the 4-digit heading to see the lines underneath it. Electric cars are a known case: they're 8703 80 today, but the schedule lists them under 8703 90.

Where do the applied duty rates come from?

For the EU, from TARIC, via the official file service of Swedish Customs. For the Mercosur common external tariff and Brazil, from Brazil's trade ministry (MDIC). For Argentina, from ARCA. Uruguay and Paraguay don't publish a machine-readable file, so we use manual snapshots, which are older. The methodology page lists each source with its date.

How often is the data updated?

A job checks every source once a week, on Sunday at midnight Berlin time. When something changes (a rate, a quota balance, the schedules themselves), the data version goes up and the change is reviewed before it goes live. The data updates page lists every version.

Is the calculator free?

Yes. Without an account you can try a set of featured product headings. A free account opens every tariff line in both schedules.

No. The calculator gives estimates based on the published schedules and the applied rates we collect. For a binding answer on classification or origin, ask your customs authority or a licensed customs broker.