COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the labelling of tyres with respect to fuel efficiency and other essential parameters and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009
Date: 2020-03-04
Institutions: Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission
Subjects: European standard, consumer information, energy consumption, energy efficiency, energy saving, environmental protection, labelling, motor fuel, pneumatic tyre

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 4.3.2020  COM(2020) 83 final 2018/0148 (COD)  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union  concerning the position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the labelling of tyres with respect to fuel efficiency and other essential parameters and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 (Text with EEA relevance)  
 
2018/0148 (COD) 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION 
TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

pursuant to Article 294(6) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union 

concerning the 

position of the Council on the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and 
of the Council on the labelling of tyres with respect to fuel efficiency and other essential 
parameters and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposal to the European Parliament and to 
the Council (COM(2018) 296 final – 2018/0148 (COD))  

17 May 2018 

Date of the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee  

17 October 2018 

Date of the position of the European Parliament, first reading  

26 March 2019 

Date of transmission of the amended proposal  

n.a. 

Date of adoption of the position of the Council  

25 February 2020 

2. 

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSAL FROM THE COMMISSION 

On  17  May  2018,  the  Commission  adopted  a  proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  the  labelling  of  tyres  with  respect  to  fuel  efficiency  and 
other essential parameters and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009. 

The  rolling  resistance  of  tyres  accounts  for  20-30%  of  a  vehicle’s  fuel  consumption. 
Decreasing  rolling  resistance  is  therefore  important  for  increasing  fuel  efficiency  and 
decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.  

The  aim  of  the  revision  of  the  tyre  labelling  Regulation  is  to  strengthen  the  information 
requirements on fuel efficiency, noise and safety aspects of tyres, and apply them to all tyres - 
whether  for  cars,  vans  or  heavy-duty  vehicles.  New  rules  on  tyre  labelling  will  enable  end 
users  to  make  the  best  choice  from  a  fuel  efficiency  and  safety  perspective  and  to  gain 
financially. 

The proposal also provides for the future inclusion of abrasion and mileage information on the 
label (once a reliable testing method is available), which would contribute to the reduction of 
micro-plastics from  tyres  in  line with  the Commission’s Plastics Strategy.  It  will also  allow 
consumers to choose long lasting tyres.  

The proposed Regulation amends the existing Regulation by: 

 

Improving  tyre  label  visibility  (label  to  be  shown  in  all  selling  and  advertising 
situations such as on the internet, distance selling, etc.) and raising awareness. 

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Improving  enforcement  and  market  surveillance  (inclusion  of  tyre  label  in  the 
product database established under Regulation 2017/1369). 

Updating the label to optimise the information given to end users. 

Including on the label information on the snow and ice performance of tyres. 

Aligning the tyre label visually with the EU energy label. 

Allowing  for  the  future  inclusion  on  the  label  of  information  on  abrasion  (micro 
plastics), mileage and re-treaded tyres. 

Requiring  manufacturers  to  provide  to  the  national  authorities  the  values  that  they 
use to declare the classes on the label, to improve reliability of the label information. 

3. 

COMMENTS ON THE POSITION OF THE COUNCIL 

The  position  of  the  Council  reflects  the  political  agreement  reached  between  the  European 
Parliament and the Council at the informal trilogue on 13 November 2019.  

The Commission welcomes the agreement of the Council to use delegated acts to include re-
treaded tyres in the scope of the Regulation, once a suitable test method is available, rather 
than implementing acts.  

The  Commission  also  welcomes  that  the  Council  agreed  to  include  information  on  mileage 
and  abrasion  in  the  Regulation  through  delegated  acts,  once  a  suitable  test  method  is 
available, rather than through ordinary legislative procedure. The Commission  is  committed 
to  collaborating  closely  with  industry,  regulatory  or  standardisation  organisations  and  other 
stakeholders in the development of suitable test and measurement methods. It regrets that the 
Council  felt  it  necessary  to  make  the  empowerment  conditional  upon  a  thorough  impact 
assessment  and  proper  consultation,  which  are  in  any  event  necessary  steps  under  the 
Commission’s Better Regulation process. 

On rescaling of the performance classes of the label, the Commission regrets that the Council 
decided  not  to  rescale  the  current  class  limits,  as  the  Commission  considers  it  a  missed 
opportunity  to  stimulate  innovation  and  give  more  accurate  information  to  consumers.  The 
Commission  also  regrets  that  the  Council  did  not  empower  the  Commission  to  update  and 
rescale the classes through delegated acts.  

While the Commission welcomes that the Council agreed to ‘clean up’ the classes for wet grip 
and  rolling  resistance,  i.e.  by  deleting  the  classes  left  empty  through  the  application  of  the 
General Safety Regulation (EU) 2019/2144, it considers it would have been more logical to 
also ‘clean up’ the noise classes in the same way. 

The  Commission  welcomes  the  proposal  to  evaluate  the  Regulation  by  1 June  2025,  and 
considers  acceptable  the  Council’s  approach  that  the  Regulation  should  start  to  apply  on 
1 May 2021. 

The  Commission  agrees  with  the  Council’s  position  that  the  full  label  has  to  be  shown  in 
visual advertisements, and that it would be possible to show the label through a nested display 
for online advertisements and sales, although it is regrettable that the Council did not want to 
specify how economic operators should do this.  

Regarding the right for market surveillance authorities to recover costs from the supplier, the 
Commission  welcomes  the  proposal  to  align  the  text  with  that  of  Regulation  2019/1020  on 
market surveillance and compliance of products, which will ensure legislative coherence. 

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Finally, the Commission welcomes the proposal to align the design of the tyre label with the 
recently  published  energy  labels1,  which  have  high  levels  of  recognition  among  consumers. 
The Council’s position to add pictograms to the label to indicate whether a tyre is a ‘severe 
snow’  tyre,  an  ‘ice’  tyre,  or  both,  which  was  part  of  the  Commission’s  proposal,  is  also 
welcomed. 

4. 

CONCLUSION 

The Commission supports the results of the inter-institutional negotiations although it regrets 
certain aspects of the Council's political agreement at first reading (i.e. the conditions attached 
to  the  empowerment  for  including  abrasion  and  mileage,  and  the  lack  of  empowerment  to 
rescale the label classes).  

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OJ L 315, 5.12.2019 

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