ETRMA welcomes progress on new tire label regulation

Brussels – The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) has broadly welcomed the outcome of a European Parliament ‘plenary vote’ of 25 March on a new tire label regulation (TLR).

With the favourable vote and European Commission (EC) approval, granted on 17 March,  the regulation can now be finalised in ‘trilogue’ negotiations with the European Council.

The vote represents an “advance on some essential points” towards replacing the 2009 Tyre Labelling Regulation, ETRMA said in a 26 March statement.

The association also noted that MEPs had completed their report ahead of elections for a new Parliament at the end of May.

The new EP, it said, will move the TLR file into ‘trilogue’ negotiations in the second half of the year – allowing for a new regulation to be adopted in early 2020.

For the ‘trilogues’ – between the EP, European Commission and EU Council – ETRMA urged the institutions to stay focused on the central aims of the new TLR.

These, it said, include raising consumer awareness of the tyre label and rolling resistance, wet grip and noise performances.

Other issues, it said, include: snow/ice logos; label visibility; incentivising safety and lower emissions; enforcement/surveillance; and a product database.

ETRMA, however, went on to express concerns about proposals for a standard test method for tire-tread abrasion and for rescaling tire-label performance classes.

The latter, it warned, “would result in a flattening of the current label information downwards and be counter-productive.”