Following several months of and pressure from the EC Commission to avoid any move as announced by the Brazilian government, the Mercosur Common Market Council (CCM) finally adopted on the 27th September 2007 the increase of applied tariffs on selected textile fabrics (chapters 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58 and 60), clothing products (chapters 61and 62), textile made-ups and carpets (chapters 57 and 63) as well as footwear.
The measure that should be translated into the respective national legislations at the latest by the 30th November 2007 includes two special provisions:
- a) The CCM should conduct an analysis of the trade flow to value the impact of the measures imposedand
the result should be presented for the last meeting of the CCM in 2010 in order to confirm or not the
measure;
- b) Paraguay and Uruguay are allowed to maintain their textile and clothing tariffs unchanged (respectively
16% and 18%) until the results of the analysis of the trade flows is published. A decision will then be
taken. In the meantime, those countries should propose measures to control trade flows in clothing
products within the Mercosur area by the end of 2007.
This is clearly an attempt by the Brazilian government to curb further imports originating from China as a complementary measure to the quotas imposed on selected products that will be applied until en 2008.