Three Renew Europe MEPs have asked the European Commission to explain why it took until September 2026 to remove Brazil from the list of countries authorised to export certain animals and animal products to the EU, despite what they suggest was prior knowledge of non-compliance with EU standards. In a written parliamentary question submitted on 17 June 2026, Christine Singer, Engin Eroglu and Joachim Streit pressed the Commission on the timing and effectiveness of its import control system, citing public concern over whether EU requirements are actually enforced for goods from third countries.
The question follows the Commission's decision to revoke Brazil's authorisation as of 3 September 2026, citing inadequate guarantees of compliance with EU production requirements. The MEPs ask three specific questions: how long the Commission has had evidence of Brazil's non-compliance; why authorisation was not revoked and imports halted sooner; and what measures are being taken to detect and prevent future breaches of standards on prohibited substances, traceability and control systems for imports from third countries.
The parliamentary question signals the MEPs' concern that the Commission's enforcement mechanism may be too slow to protect EU consumers and producers from potentially substandard imports. By demanding a timeline of the Commission's knowledge, they are probing whether bureaucratic delays or insufficient monitoring allowed non-compliant products to enter the EU market for an extended period. The third question pushes for systemic improvements, indicating that the MEPs view the Brazil case as a symptom of broader weaknesses in import controls.
Under Parliament's rules, the Commission is expected to reply within approximately six weeks. The answer will reveal whether the Commission had long-standing intelligence on Brazil's shortcomings and what steps it plans to tighten surveillance of third-country producers. The case touches on the balance between open trade and rigorous enforcement of EU sanitary and food safety standards, with implications for consumer confidence, the competitiveness of EU livestock farmers, and the bloc's trade relations with major agricultural exporters.