The Mercosur trade deal between the EU and the Mercosur countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay comes into effect provisionally on Friday 1 May.
It will remain in operation provisionally until the European Parliament votes to either accept or reject the deal.
This vote has been delayed by the Parliament deciding to refer the deal to the European Court of Justice, a process that could take up to two years.
The deal had completed the first stage of the approval process in January when the member states of the EU voted by a qualified majority to accept it.
Ireland was one of the countries that voted against it. In March, the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU’s largest-ever trade deal would operate provisionally from 1 May.
The deal is controversial with beef and poultry meat producers in the EU, as it gives the South American countries additional access to the EU market.
From Friday, they will get an extra 99,000t carcase weight equivalent beef quota with a reduced tariff of 7.5% and a 180,000t poultry meat quota at zero tariffs.
The EU will get quotas for 30,000t of cheese, 10,000t of milk powders and 5,000t of infant formula. For pig meat there is a 25,000t reciprocal quota, with an in-quota tariff of €83/t.
SHARING OPTIONS