Mercosur: Even the Claimed GI Protection Is at Risk

Asiago, Black Forest Ham, Brie, Camembert, Chorizo, Emmental, Fontina, Gorgonzola, Gouda, Grana, Feta, Kiełbasa, Mortadella, Munster, Pecorino, Parmesan: these are just a few of the European cheeses and meat products that are Geographical Indications (GIs) — or names intrinsically linked to GI systems — protected at EU level and included in the recently signed EU-Mercosur Agreement.

“Yet today”, warns Luigi Scordamaglia, President of Eat Europe, “even this claimed protection appears increasingly fragile following a recent bilateral trade agreement between the United States and Argentina.”

Eat Europe and Farm Europe underline how under the deal signed between Washington and Buenos Aires, the United States has secured the protection of these same names in Argentina as “generic” terms. In practice, this prevents Argentina from restricting U.S. market access based on the use of these denominations, effectively opening the door to products that imitate Europe’s most renowned specialties.

“This development raises a fundamental question: what real value does GI protection under the EU-Mercosur Agreement hold if parallel bilateral deals can neutralize its enforcement?” commented Yves Madre, President of Farm Europe.

GIs are not mere commercial labels. They are legal instruments that safeguard quality standards, territorial identity, biodiversity, and social cohesion. They protect agricultural models rooted in environmental stewardship, respect for labor standards, and centuries-old know-how. When these names are treated as generic, entire production systems are weakened. Value is shifted away from rural territories and authentic producers toward industrial replication and globalized commodity markets.

The Argentine opening to U.S. “European-sounding” products significantly amplifies the structural risks already embedded in the Mercosur framework. The agreement lacks full reciprocity and does not provide robust, automatic safeguard mechanisms. It risks allowing duty-free imports of products that may not meet the same environmental, phytosanitary, and labor standards imposed on European farmers — creating an uneven playing field and undermining the credibility of EU quality policy itself.

In this context, the political responsibility becomes unavoidable. “The European Commission, under the leadership of Ursula von der Leyen, has repeatedly presented the Mercosur deal as a strategic success capable of defending European excellence. Yet if one of the key signatories can simultaneously dismantle the practical enforceability of GI protection through separate trade concessions, the agreement risks becoming not a shield, but a vulnerability”, said Luigi Scordamaglia.

Promoting and valorising authentic agricultural products must remain at the core of EU trade policy. Strong, multi-layered and enforceable protection of GIs is not a symbolic demand — it is essential to defend quality, sustainability, rural economies, and Europe’s cultural heritage.

If trade policy fails to defend its own standards, it does not merely compromise market access; it erodes the foundations of the European agricultural model itself.