Methodology and data sources
The calculator answers one question: what duty does a product pay under the EU–Mercosur agreement this year and in each year after, compared with the duty it pays today? This page explains where each number comes from.
The agreement schedules
Everything starts with Annex 2-A of the Interim Trade Agreement and its two appendices. Appendix 2-A-1 is the EU's schedule, written in the 2013 Combined Nomenclature (CN 2013). Appendix 2-A-2 is Mercosur's schedule, written in the 2012 Mercosur nomenclature (NCM 2012), with a separate base rate for each of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Each line gives a base rate and a staging category.
We converted both appendices line by line, without grouping lines together. The EU schedule has 9,376 lines and the Mercosur schedule 10,029. Every line was checked against the official PDF texts published on Brazil's Siscomex portal, most recently on 18 October 2026. One Mercosur code was printed wrongly in the converted text (50105400 instead of 5105 40 00, coarse animal hair) and was corrected against the official appendix.
The rest of Annex 2-A is modelled by hand: the chronogram of cuts for each staging category, the rounding rule, the special car schedules and every EU and Mercosur tariff-rate quota.
From a code to a result
When you enter a code, the calculator finds the line in the importing party's schedule. It never falls back to the other side's schedule. If you enter a 2-, 4- or 6-digit code, it shows the range of rates of the lines underneath and asks you to pick one.
For a single line it then:
- Reads the base rate. EU rates can mix an ad valorem part with specific duties per 100 kg, per tonne, per hectolitre and so on. Those are parsed exactly as printed.
- Applies the staging category. Year 0 runs from 1 May to 31 December 2026, and each later cut takes effect on 1 January. Rates are rounded down to the nearest 0.1 percentage point, as Annex 2-A requires.
- Compares the result with the duty applied today, to show the saving.
If a line needs more information, it asks. A line with a specific duty needs a quantity, and the Mercosur line for electric and hybrid cars (8703 90 00) needs the vehicle type. If the duty depends on things the calculator can't know, such as entry prices or the EU's agricultural component (EA), which depends on the product's composition, it shows the rates as printed and says why it can't compute an amount.
Applied rates and Article 2.4(7)
Savings are measured against the most-favoured-nation (MFN) duty the importing country applies today, not against the base rate in the schedule. These are the sources we use:
| Territory | Source | Data as of |
|---|---|---|
| EU | TARIC, through the Tariff File Distribution service of Swedish Customs (Tullverket) | 16 October 2026 |
| Mercosur common external tariff | Brazil's trade ministry (MDIC), consolidated Gecex Resolution 272 file | 5 October 2026 |
| Brazil | Same MDIC file, with Brazil's national exception lists applied | 5 October 2026 |
| Argentina | ARCA (formerly AFIP), Arancel Integrado | 18 October 2026 |
| Uruguay | Ministry of Economy and Finance, national tariff (manual snapshot) | 10 February 2025 |
| Paraguay | Ministry of Economy and Finance, import tariffs (manual snapshot) | 4 November 2025 |
The applied rate also matters for the preference itself. Under Article 2.4(7), when the applied rate is lower than the base rate, the cut is calculated from the applied rate with the same relative margin. When the applied rate is higher, the base rate is kept. If there's no usable applied rate for a line, the calculator uses the base rate and labels it.
For imports into Mercosur, the importing country's own rate is the reference, and the common external tariff and the other members' rates are listed next to it. They often differ because each member keeps national exception lists.
Quotas
Lines under a tariff-rate quota show the in-quota duty and the volume for each year separately from the normal schedule. For the EU's first-come, first-served quotas, we also show the remaining balance from TARIC (as of 16 October 2026) and flag quotas that are used up. Some EU quotas, including the two new beef quotas, are managed with import licences, and no balance is published for them. In-quota savings always assume you get quota.
Coverage
| EU schedule | Mercosur schedule | |
|---|---|---|
| Lines | 9,376 | 10,029 |
| Computed without extra input | 8,348 | 9,134 |
| Needs a quantity or vehicle type | 730 | 1 |
| Rates shown but amount not computable | 192 | 0 |
| Excluded from cuts (category E) | 106 | 894 |
| Under a tariff-rate quota | 317 | 39 |
What the calculator doesn't do
It doesn't check rules of origin. Every result assumes the goods qualify as originating.
It doesn't translate old codes into new ones. About 88.6% of the EU lines and 91.6% of the Mercosur lines still exist with the same code today. For the rest, the calculator tells you the code isn't in the schedule, but there's no correlation table yet.
The Uruguay and Paraguay rates are manual snapshots and are more than six months old. Paraguay's file also has about 170 fewer codes than the full nomenclature, and those lines fall back to the base rate.
For sparkling wine, the EU quota terms depend on a price threshold of 8 USD per litre, and the calculator has no input for the customs value. It shows the below-threshold path and warns you.
For hybrid cars, the applied rate is looked up under 8703 80 00, which today covers battery-electric cars only. Hybrids can have a different applied rate.
Updates
A scheduled job checks every source each week. If a rate, a quota balance or the schedules change, it bumps the data version, re-runs all checks and opens a change for review. Nothing goes live without that review. The data updates page lists every version. The current one is 2026.10.2.
Questions about a specific result? The FAQ covers the common ones, and the glossary explains the terms used here.