Lowering car emissions with EU tyre labels
The EU has committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Reducing CO2 emissions from road transport plays a major part in fulfilling these goals.
Choosing more fuel-efficient tyres can contribute to reducing transport emissions. In order to help consumers make informed decisions, the EU is introducing a new labelling scheme for tyres which will come into force on May 1, 2021.
The EU tyre label will allow EU consumers to choose more fuel-efficient tyres, which can lead to great savings for both end users and commercial users in terms of both costs and emissions. Road safety is improved through better wet grip while information on noise levels help reduce traffic-related noise pollution.
Here comes your part (obligation): as a tyre distributor, from May 1, 2021, you need to ensure that:
At the point of sale the label on the tyres is clearly visible. The product information sheet needs to be accessible (digitally) and provided in printed form on request. Where the tyre is not physically shown in the store and where it is sold online or on a long-distance basis the information needs to be provided digitally.
When you sell a tyre that is part of a batch of one or more identical tyres, the label and the product information sheet need to be accessible (digitally) and provided on request.
In visual advertisements or other promotional material, the tyre label information must be shown – digitally or in printed form – whenever a specific tyre type is being promoted or displayed. In a list of products, the respective performance symbols and declared label classes/values alone are sufficient.
All tyres delivered by us will be compliant with the new regulation. Car tyres will be delivered with a sticker containing further information such as tyre line name and EAN (see draft).
Tyres delivered to you before May 1, 2021 with the former label still remain compliant. A certain transition phase is part of the switchover and tyres do not have to be re-labelled if provided to you before May 1, 2021. This also applies to tyres that are already on the market (e.g. at our RDCs) but are delivered to you after May 1, 2021.
However, we will be sure to transmit the new label values in good time so you can also use the new EU label to help your customers make informed choices. Moreover the new label will also be available for download and print out in EPREL. So if a customer requires the label, you will be able to provide it fast and easily.