Brazil weighs countermeasures as EU animal-product restrictions begin
Brazil has raised the prospect of countermeasures against the European Union after new restrictions on animal-derived products took effect, turning a technical dispute over veterinary medicines into a wider trade confrontation.
The Brazilian government said on Thursday that the EU had begun applying limits to products for which it considered Brazil’s official guarantees insufficient. A joint statement by the agriculture and foreign ministries described the measures as disproportionate and said Brasília was examining reciprocal action and available legal channels.
The rules arise from Article 118 of the EU’s Veterinary Medicinal Products Regulation. From 3 September, animal products entering the bloc must come from countries able to certify that producers have not used antimicrobials to promote growth or increase yield, and have not used medicines reserved in the EU for treating human infections.
The European Commission’s guidance for non-EU exporters says eligible countries must be placed on an authorised list after providing guarantees covering the relevant animals and products. Compliance is then tested through official certification and border controls.
This is an important qualification. The dispute is not a blanket EU finding that Brazilian food is unsafe, nor an indiscriminate prohibition on everything Brazil sells to Europe. It concerns whether the control system provides the documentation and traceability required for particular export chains. The Commission has received Brazilian guarantees for some products but considers gaps to remain in areas examined by its auditors.
EU Today reported in August that an EU audit of Brazilian poultry and honey controls had put market access at risk. At that stage, officials were still examining whether Brazil could demonstrate equivalence. The new development is that the compliance deadline has passed and the argument now affects trade.
For Brussels, the measure is part of its response to antimicrobial resistance. European farmers are prohibited from using antibiotics routinely for growth promotion, and the Commission argues that imports produced under looser standards would undermine both public-health policy and fair competition. Requiring equivalent guarantees is also meant to prevent the EU market from rewarding practices it has banned at home.
Brazil contends that it has made extensive regulatory changes and supplied the requested information. Its concern extends beyond immediate consignments. If the Commission’s evidential standard is judged unpredictable, exporters may face costly changes to certification, segregated production and supply-chain records without certainty that access will follow.
The commercial stakes are considerable. Brazil is a major supplier of poultry, beef, honey and other agricultural goods, while the EU is an important premium market. The row also arrives as both sides seek to consolidate the EU-Mercosur relationship. Retaliation against European products would enlarge a dispute that officials have so far presented as a matter of regulatory compliance.
Several outcomes remain possible. Brazil may supply additional guarantees that allow more product lines to be approved; the Commission may impose conditions rather than lasting exclusion; or Brasília could pursue a formal trade challenge. Reciprocal restrictions, if adopted, would add political leverage but also costs for Brazilian buyers and consumers.
The immediate task is therefore narrower than the rhetoric suggests: regulators must specify which products and establishments are affected, what evidence is missing and how compliance can be restored. Without that clarity, a public-health rule risks hardening into a trade dispute at precisely the moment Europe and South America are trying to deepen economic ties.
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