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UGP warns that new EU regulations could become trade barriers for Paraguay
🇵🇾 Paraguay /Economy & Trade

UGP warns that new EU regulations could become trade barriers for Paraguay

From ABC Color · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Paraguay's agricultural sector is concerned that new European Union regulations on pesticide residues could act as trade barriers.
  • The EU's evolving environmental and production standards, part of the European Green Deal, are seen as potentially disadvantaging countries with different production conditions.
  • Paraguayan producers question whether the new EU requirements align with international scientific criteria, citing established standards from Codex Alimentarius and the WTO.

Paraguay's agricultural sector is raising alarms over new European Union regulations concerning maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides. The Union of Agricultural Guilds of Paraguay (UGP) warns that these evolving EU demands could effectively function as trade barriers, hindering the access of Paraguayan products to the European market.

Esteban Vasconcelos, a technical advisor for the UGP, explained that these new provisions are part of a broader regulatory trend initiated by the European Green Deal in 2019. He believes that Europe's environmental and production regulations disproportionately affect countries in Latin America, where production conditions differ significantly. Vasconcelos characterized these measures as "trade barriers" disguised as environmental concerns.

They directly say: ‘We use these products little or no longer use them in Europe, so from now on, products from other countries cannot enter Europe.’

— Esteban VasconcelosTechnical advisor for the UGP, criticizing the EU's approach to pesticide regulations.

He pointed to previous European regulations related to deforestation, land-use change, and carbon emissions, such as Regulation 1115, ILUC provisions, and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), as precedents. Vasconcelos anticipates that the new pesticide residue requirements are not the last such measure, stating, "We will have to face them one by one."

A key point of contention for Vasconcelos is the EU's potential to impose restrictions on products or substances that are used minimally or no longer used within Europe but remain necessary in other regions due to distinct production circumstances. He questioned the scientific basis of these new EU requirements, contrasting them with internationally recognized standards set by Codex Alimentarius and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Vasconcelos argued that Europe's environmental and climatic conditions are not comparable to those in Latin America, suggesting that this disparity makes it difficult to apply the same production standards universally.

These are situations that have arisen from their new environmental vision and that, in reality, for me, are trade barriers.

— Esteban VasconcelosTechnical advisor for the UGP, characterizing new EU environmental regulations as trade barriers.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Color in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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