A new trade agreement between the US and Argentina could see EU protected geographic indications (PGIs) under the EU GI system ignored by Argentinian authorities when products with similar names enter the country from the US.

However, many of these EU GIs are supposed to be protected by the EU-Mercosur Trade Agreement, potentially bringing that trade agreement into conflict with the new deal between Argentina and the US.

Under the Mercosur deal, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay committed to respect EU PGIs, and to not permit products with similar sounding names being sold that were not produced in the EU.

However, according to EU agriculture trade organisation Farm Europe, this "claimed protection appears increasingly fragile following a recent bilateral trade agreement between the United States and Argentina".

According to Farm Europe - of which the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) is a member - and a related organisation Eat Europe, the deal signed between the US and Argentina has allowed the US to secure 'generic' terms for a range of meat and cheese products that have the same or similar names as EU GI products.

These include the Chorizo, Mortadella, Brie and Camembert GIs, among several others.

"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," Farm Europe warned.

"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?" Farm Europe president Yves Madra said.

Farm Europe stressed that GIs are "not mere commercial labels".

"They are legal instruments that safeguard quality standards, territorial identity, biodiversity, and social cohesion," the organisation said.

"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," Farm Europe warned.

The group claimed that Argentina opening up to "European sounding" products that were produced in the US "significantly amplifies the structural risks already embedded in the Mercosur framework".

Farm Europe said the EU-Mercosur Trade 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 labour standards imposed on European farmers, creating an uneven playing field and undermining the credibility of EU quality policy itself," Farm Europe and Eat Europe both said.

Luigi Scordamaglia, president of Eat Europe, said: "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.

The two organisations called for "promoting and valorising authentic agricultural products" to 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," the two groups said in a statement.