O Acordo de Livre Comércio entre o MERCOSUL e a União Europeia : perspectivas para o consumo sustentável de alimentos orgânicos no MERCOSUL

Abstract

Unsustainable production and consumption habits added to the devastation of the environment have reached challenging levels. In this scenario, the formation of regional integration processes, such as the European Union (EU) and the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR) made it possible to deal with matters, including those of a social nature, from another perspective, such as environmental protection and consumer protection. With the conclusion of negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between MERCOSUR and the EU, after more than 20 years, the objective of facilitating and expanding trade between the regions is reaffirmed. Civil society, which did not participate in the negotiations, which were marked by a lack of transparency, began to question various issues involving the environment and food safety for consumers (especially Europeans), in view of the asymmetries of the rules on human health, animal welfare, and others. It is feared that, to meet the FTA trade flow, MERCOSUR will increase the deforestation of its forests, especially to produce commodities, putting even more pressure on the climate, in addition to making sanitary requirements more flexible, favoring only trade. Despite the apparent paralysis of the FTA, currently under technical and legal review, considering the interest of influential sectors in both regions, the prospect of its signature is being worked on. Thus, in view of the chapters on Trade and Sustainable Development, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Transparency of the FTA, the question is: what are the practices to be promoted in MERCOSUR, starting from the FTA, to increase the level of consumer protection and promote sustainable consumption of organic food in the integrated region? It is presented as a hypothesis that combining the protection of consumers' health with their right to information and the right to a healthy environment is the way to expand the general level of protection of Mercosur consumers. In addition, ecolabeling, mentioned in the FTA, would provide an opportunity to promote family farming and organic certification among the States Parties, with the harmonization of requirements. This is because family farming is already part of the institutional structure of MERCOSUR, through the Specialized Meeting on Family Farming, in addition to the fact that there is already a consolidated production of organic food in all the member states of the bloc, with defined criteria. To verify the hypothesis and answer the research problem, a qualitative approach it’s used, from a critical and transdisciplinary perspective, in addition to normative-descriptive, historical, and comparative research methods. The results obtained, in short, demonstrate that MERCOSUR has an untapped potential in the production of organic food, in addition to the fact that, despite the inclusion of family farming in its institutional structure, the implementation of measures to strengthen it, which would even favor, consumers, is insufficient. Furthermore, the analysis of European regulations and international documents shows that eco-labeling is relevant, being a possible tool for MERCOSUR to expand the protection of its consumers and the sustainable consumption of organic foods, based on the harmonization of production criteria, and especially considering the possible contributions of family farming to the topic.