Last November saw the introduction of a new EU legislation relating to the sale of vehicle tyres. All tyres sold within the EU now have to comply with regulation standard tyre labels.
Despite this introduction in late 2012, many consumers are still unaware of the recent changes as it hasn’t been widely reported on. The tyre industry has remained very much unchanged within the last half century, so for many retailers and especially manufacturers, it has come as a big change.
New regulations were introduced with the goal of providing consumers with a greater knowledge of their chosen product as little information was previously available. The new labels have a similar appearance to the energy rating stickers found on electrical equipment, but provides information grading three different areas of the tyre. These areas inform consumers about how a tyre effects the fuel efficiency of their vehicle, its wet grip rating and its external rolling noise. This provides a clear picture of a tyres overall performance.
The EU hopes this will help to improve road safety at the same time as enabling the consumer to make an informed and cost-effective decision. The new requirement calls for fair testing by manufacturers who are now testing a variety of different tyre brands. The new labels will ensure quick and easy comparisons of like for like tyres making tyre shopping more simplified.
Suppliers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers are all impacted by the new legislation. All suppliers are now required to give the full tyre details so that a retailer can fully understand their product. The information provided will hopefully increase the consumers trust within the industry.
Certain tyres are still exempt from the new legislation, only tyres that are produced for cars, 4x4s, vans an d trucks need to meet the new requirements. By making consumers more aware of the tyres overall performance it aims to help reduce the harmful effect on the environment as more economical tyres are most likely to be purchased. Manufacturers will also be able to start thinking about producing tyres to slightly higher standards on order to compete with the industry leading brands.
Labelservice are a specialist label printer for businesses with over 300 different label types, and have delivered a number of tyre labels for various companies around the UK.
