The adopted Regulation incorporates into EU law the provisions of the bilateral safeguard clause contained in the EU–Mercosur trade agreement. The European Parliament voted on the version agreed following the trilogue negotiations held in December 2025 between the Parliament, the Presidency and the European Commission. The draft had previously been approved by the Council of the EU at a COREPER meeting on 9 January 2026.

The outcome of the trilogue did not include some of the demands put forward by both Poland and the European Parliament, in particular those concerning reciprocity of production standards. At the same time, should the EU–Mercosur agreement enter into force – despite Poland’s opposition – the adoption of the Regulation is preferable to its absence or a return to the European Commission’s original, less protective proposal.

“This is not an ideal solution, but it is more advantageous than the Commission’s original proposal. Lowering the thresholds increases the Union’s capacity to respond to threats to the agricultural market,” stressed Minister of Agriculture Stefan Krajewski.

One of the key changes compared to the Commission’s original draft is the lowering of the thresholds that may prompt the European Commission to initiate safeguard proceedings. Under the Regulation, such grounds may include a 5% increase in imports from Mercosur countries or a 5% decrease in the import price of a given product compared with the average of the previous three years – provided that there is simultaneous price undercutting of at least 5% compared to the price on the EU market.

In the Commission’s original proposal, these thresholds were set at 10%, both for import volume and price decrease, with simultaneous price undercutting at the level of 10%. Reducing these parameters to 5% increases the ability to respond to threats to the EU agricultural market. However, the indicated thresholds are not the sole criterion for initiating proceedings – they may also be launched in other circumstances indicating serious injury caused by imports.

An important element of the adopted provisions is also the obligation to continuously monitor imports of sensitive agricultural products from Mercosur countries. The European Commission will be required to submit reports to the European Parliament at least every six months, enabling ongoing assessment of the market situation.

The Regulation will apply in the event of the entry into force of the EU–Mercosur agreement, which remains subject to further ratification procedures at EU level.