Legal instruments for implementing sustainable development in the European Union and Mercosur’s Trade Agreement

The subject of the study is the external trade relations of the EU as a subject of international law, concluded with organisations of states and individual countries within the framework of the EU Common Commercial Policy. The aim of the study is to assess the provisions of the EU-Mercosur Agreement made in terms of the choice of legal instruments for the association of the two regions in terms of sustainable socio-economic growth and trade, while ensuring environmental protection and consumer food safety. The essential considerations are preceded by a demonstration of the evolutionary changes in the approach to food safety and environmental protection in the EU’s external trade agreements and Mercosur’s internal regulations. The analysis carried out mandates a number of conclusions relating to the two chapters of the agreement governing food safety of imported food products and environmental protection. The norms as negotiated in the agreement do not implement the objective of sustainable development and should be renegotiated. The exclusion of the precautionary principle only confirms the thesis that has been put forward.