PURPOSE: to increase the safety and the economic and environmental efficiency of road transport by promoting fuel-efficient and safe tyres with low noise levels.
LEGISLATIVE ACT:Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the labelling of tyres with respect to fuel efficiency and other essential parameters.
CONTENT: the Council adopted a regulation on the labelling of tyres with respect to fuel efficiency and other essential parameters.
This regulation is in line with the revised Commission strategy on CO2 emissions from passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, which sets a CO2 target to be achieved through reductions in car emissions, including the promotion of fuel-efficient tyres.
The regulation establishes a framework for the provision of harmonised information on tyre parameters, such as rolling resistance, wet grip and external rolling noise, thus allowing consumers to make an informed choice when purchasing tyres, since a label on tyres will be displayed at the point of sale, as well as in technical promotional material.Tyres, mainly because of their rolling resistance, account for 20 % to 30 % of the fuel consumption of vehicles.A reduction of the rolling resistance of tyres may therefore contribute significantly to the energy efficiency of road transport and thus to the reduction of emissions.
Directed at the demand side, this regulation on tyre labelling will complement the type-approval legislation on tyres which addresses the supply side by means of minimum requirements. The minimum requirements governing rolling resistance, wet grip and external rolling noise laid down in Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 on the general safety of motor vehicles will guarantee a standard level of tyre quality, while further improvements beyond these levels will be driven by the tyre labelling scheme.
This regulation shall apply to C1, C2 and C3 tyres. Its main provisions are as follows:
Display of the label: suppliers shall ensure that C1 and C2 tyres, which are delivered to distributors or end-users, are: (a) equipped with a sticker on the tyre tread displaying a label indicating the fuel efficiency class, the external rolling noise class and measured value and, where applicable, the wet grip class, or (b) for each batch of one or more identical tyres delivered, accompanied by a label in printed format indicating the fuel efficiency class, the external rolling noise class and measured value and, where applicable, the wet grip class. The format of the sticker and the label shall be as prescribed in Annex II.
Suppliers shall state the fuel efficiency class, the external rolling noise class and measured value and, where applicable, the wet grip class, of C1, C2 and C3 tyres in technical promotional material, including on their websites, as set out in Annex I, in the order specified in Annex III.
Responsibilities of vehicle suppliers: where end users are offered a choice at the point of sale between different tyres to be fitted on a new vehicle which they are intending to acquire, vehicle suppliers and distributors shall, before the sale, provide them with information, for each of the tyres offered. This information shall be included at least in the technical promotional material.
Harmonised testing methods: the information to be provided under this regulation on the fuel efficiency class, the external rolling noise class and measured value, and the wet grip class of tyres shall be obtained by applying the harmonised testing methods referred to in Annex I of the regulation.
Internal market: where the requirements of this Regulation are complied with, Member States shall neither prohibit nor restrict the making available on the market of the tyres on grounds of product information. Unless they have evidence to the contrary, Member States shall consider that labels and product information comply with this Regulation.
Market surveillance: a reference to Regulation (EC) No 765/2008 on market surveillance is introduced in the regulation as suggested in the Commission amended proposal in response to the Parliament's request for reinforced market surveillance rules.
Review: the Commission shall assess the need to review this Regulation, taking into account, inter alia: (a) the effectiveness of the label in terms of end-user awareness; (b) whether the labelling scheme should be extended to include retreaded tyres; (c) whether new tyre parameters, such as mileage, should be introduced; (d) the information on tyre parameters provided by vehicle suppliers and distributors to end-users. The Commission shall present the result of this assessment to the European Parliament and the Council no later than 1 March 2016, and, if appropriate, submit proposals to the European Parliament and to the Council.
Transitional provision: Parliament and Council agreed to exempt tyres produced before July 2012 from the labelling requirements.
Promotion of low noise tyres (annex II): a classification of external rolling noise is added on the label in order to facilitate easy recognition of low noise tyres, in addition to the display of the external rolling noise measured value in decibels.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 11/01/2010.
APPLICATION: from 01/11/2012.