Hanover, 17.12.2009: Continental welcomes the European parliament’s decision on the labelling directive for vehicle tyres. For the passenger car and commercial vehicle tyre divisions, the label with information on fuel efficiency, wet grip and rolling noise of tyres is a suitable way to help consumers choose fuel-saving, safe and quiet tyres. However, the international automotive supplier and tyre specialist also points out that the label only takes three out of a whole range of tyre properties into account. Compared with the initial proposals to introduce only a fuel-efficiency label, the EU tyre label that has now been adopted contains considerably more data with greater relevance. This is important because there is always a conflict of aims between wet grip and rolling resistance due to the laws of physics.

Truck tyres:

• The label will become obligatory from 1 November 2012, in all 27 EU countries.
  The EU parliament adopted mandatory labelling of all truck tyres in the 27 EU states on 22 December 2009.
  
  
• Additional information for consumers.
  Continental welcomes this obligation to inform consumers, but points out that only three out of a whole range of tyre properties are taken into account.
  
  
• Classification in seven groups.
  A classification from A to G is used for fuel efficiency - where A is the best class and G the poorest. A further indicator with three classes gives the noise generated by the tyre in dB. A final decision has not yet been reached on the classification of wet grip.
  
  
• Tyre information must be available before the sale.
  Tyre buyers should be shown the information on the three criteria for each individual tyre before the sale. It should be indicated on or enclosed with the invoice.
  
  The commercial vehicle tyre division will take this method of customer information into consideration and also publish information on its products in a suitable form.
  
  
• Industry to provide own tyre certification
  The tyre manufacturers will certify their products themselves using the set criteria for the EU tyre label. Each tyre model and each size will be assessed individually. This approach is already successfully practiced for a range of statutory performance guidelines and shows the trust that the lawmakers have in the industry. However, for large manufacturers like Continental, this will involve a very high level of extra expense as several thousand products need to be checked individually.