BRUSSELS—The European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers' Association has welcomed the outcome of a March 25 European Parliament plenary vote on a new tire label regulation.
With the favorable vote and European Commission approval, which was granted on March 17, the regulation can be finalized in trilogue negotiations with the European Council.
The vote, ETRMA said, represents an "advance on some essential points" toward replacing the 2009 Tire Labeling Regulation.
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 Tire Labeling Regulation 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, EC and EU Council—ETRMA urged the institutions to stay focused on the central aims of the new Tire Labeling Regulation.
These, it said, include raising consumer awareness of the tire label and rolling resistance, wet grip and noise performances.
Other issues, it said, include:
- Snow/ice logos;
- Label visibility;
- Incentivizing 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 downward and be counter-productive."