TLR in plain terms
The Tyre Labelling Regulation (TLR), formally Regulation (EU) 2020/740, gives buyers the same three graded facts about every tyre sold in the EU. It establishes a framework for harmonised information on tyre parameters through labelling, so that end-users can make an informed choice when purchasing tyres, in order to increase safety, protect health and improve the economic and environmental efficiency of road transport by promoting fuel-efficient, long-lasting and safe tyres with low noise levels (Art. 1). It applies to C1, C2 and C3 tyres placed on the market (Art. 2(1)), and an end-user is a consumer, a fleet manager or a road transport undertaking that buys or is expected to buy a tyre (Art. 3, point (19)).
Unlike a CE-marking directive, TLR is not about whether a tyre may be sold. It is about what the buyer is told: the tyre label of Annex II, the product information sheet of Annex III, the entry in the EU product database EPREL and the way the classes follow the tyre through shops, websites, advertisements and catalogues. The tyre’s technical safety requirements sit elsewhere, in the vehicle type-approval framework and in UNECE Regulation No 117, to which Annex I refers for the test methods.
The regulation entered into force on 25 June 2020 and applies from 1 May 2021, the day it repealed Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 (Art. 17 and Art. 18). It has never been amended. Three corrigenda are recorded in the consolidated text: the one of 27 July 2020, which EUR-Lex records as correcting the German, English and Italian versions, the one of 30 April 2021, which corrected the title block, and the one of 28 October 2021, which corrected the Annex II format specifications of the label itself. On 24 June 2026 the Commission proposed to amend the regulation, but that proposal is not law.
Official text Read the regulation on EUR-Lex: consolidated text of 5 June 2020 (CELEX 02020R0740-20200605), which incorporates the three corrigenda; the original act (CELEX 32020R0740) and the document information page record the corrigenda and the repeal of Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009.
Scope
The regulation applies to C1, C2 and C3 tyres placed on the market (Art. 2(1)). Those are the classes of Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 661/2009: class C1 is designed primarily for M1, N1, O1 and O2 vehicles, that is passenger cars, vans and light trailers; class C2 is designed primarily for M2, M3, N, O3 and O4 vehicles with a load capacity index in single formation of 121 or less and a speed category symbol of N or higher; class C3 is designed primarily for the same vehicle categories with a load capacity index of 121 or less and a speed category symbol of M or lower, or with a load capacity index of 122 or more. A tyre may fall in more than one class if it meets the requirements of each (Regulation (EC) No 661/2009, Art. 8). That regulation was repealed by Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 with effect from 6 July 2022 and references to it are construed as references to that regulation. Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 does not itself restate the C1, C2 and C3 class definitions or the rolling noise limit values, so read literally the reference now points at provisions that no longer exist anywhere in enacted Union law. The workable reading, and the one the industry applies, is that the substance survives through UNECE Regulation No 117, which Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 makes mandatory through its Annex II and to which Annex I of this regulation refers directly for the test methods, and that the class definitions and limit values of the repealed regulation continue to supply the content until the Commission amends the annexes by delegated act under Article 13 (Regulation (EU) 2019/2144, Art. 18(1) and (2), Art. 19 and Annex II; Art. 3, point (1), Annex I, Part C, and Art. 13).
Eight groups are excluded by Article 2(2), points (a) to (h): off-road professional tyres, which are special-use tyres used primarily in severe off-road conditions; tyres designed to be fitted only on vehicles registered for the first time before 1 October 1990; T-type temporary-use spare tyres, designed for use at higher inflation pressures than standard and reinforced tyres; tyres whose speed rating is less than 80 km per hour; tyres whose nominal rim diameter does not exceed 254 mm or is 635 mm or more; tyres fitted with additional devices to improve traction properties, such as studded tyres; tyres designed only to be fitted on vehicles intended exclusively for racing; and second-hand tyres, unless they are imported from a third country. An imported used tyre is therefore a fully labelled product, while the same tyre traded inside the Union is not.
Re-treaded tyres, used tyres reconditioned by replacing the worn tread with new material, are the special case. They are inside the scope, but the second subparagraph of Article 2(1) provides that the requirements for them apply once a suitable testing method to measure their performance is available in accordance with Article 13. Article 13(2) obliged the Commission to adopt delegated acts introducing information requirements for re-treaded tyres by 26 June 2022, provided such a method existed. No delegated act has been adopted, so in practice a re-treaded tyre carries no label, no product information sheet and no database entry today, and the duty begins on the day the Commission introduces it.
The duties fall on four groups. A supplier is a manufacturer established in the Union, an authorised representative of a manufacturer who is not established in the Union, or an importer, who places a product on the Union market (Art. 3, point (15)); the manufacturer and importer definitions are borrowed from Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 (Art. 3, points (12) and (13)). A distributor is anyone in the supply chain, other than the supplier, who makes a product available on the market (Art. 3, point (16)), which covers wholesalers, tyre shops, workshops and online shops. Vehicle suppliers and vehicle distributors have their own duty when tyres go with a new vehicle (Art. 7). Hosting service providers that allow tyres to be sold through their internet site have a narrow enabling duty (Art. 8). The regulation contains no company-size threshold: a one-shop tyre dealer and a national chain carry the same Article 6 duties.
What you must do
The label and its classes
The tyre label is a graphic diagram, in printed or electronic form including as a sticker, carrying symbols that inform end-users about a tyre’s performance on the Annex I parameters (Art. 3, point (5)). Its upper part carries the QR code, the supplier’s trade name or trademark, the tyre type identifier, the tyre size designation with load-capacity index and speed category symbol under UNECE Regulation No 30 or No 54, the tyre class C1, C2 or C3, and the fuel efficiency and wet grip pictograms with their scales and the tyre’s class. Its lower part carries the external rolling noise pictogram, the value in dB(A) rounded to the nearest integer and the noise class, the snow grip pictogram where the tyre meets the minimum snow grip index values of UNECE Regulation No 117, the ice grip pictogram where it meets the relevant minimum ice grip index values, and the serial number 2020/740 (Annex II, points 1.1 to 1.5).
Fuel efficiency is graded A to E on the rolling resistance coefficient in N per kN, measured under Annex 6 to UNECE Regulation No 117 and aligned with the Annex V laboratory alignment procedure. The bands differ by tyre class: class A is 6,5 N per kN or less for C1, 5,5 for C2 and 4,0 for C3, and class E starts at 10,6, 9,1 and 7,1 respectively. Wet grip is graded A to E on the wet grip index G, calculated as the measured index G(T) minus 0,03 and measured under Annex 5 to UNECE Regulation No 117: class A needs G of at least 1,55 for C1, 1,40 for C2 and 1,25 for C3, and class E is 1,09, 0,94 and 0,79 or less. Where a tyre type belongs to more than one tyre class, the grading scale of the highest class is used (Annex I, Parts A and B).
External rolling noise is both a number and a class. The measured value N in dB(A) is calculated under Annex 3 to UNECE Regulation No 117 and declared in decibels, and the class runs A to C against the limit value LV set out in Part C of Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 661/2009: class A where N is at or below LV minus 3, class B where N is above LV minus 3 and at or below LV, and class C where N is above LV. Those limit values are 70 dB(A) for C1 tyres up to 185 mm nominal section width, 71 up to 245 mm, 72 up to 275 mm and 74 above, with 1 dB(A) added for snow, extra load or reinforced tyres; 72 dB(A) for normal C2 tyres and 73 for C2 traction tyres; and 73 and 75 dB(A) for normal and traction C3 tyres, with 2 dB(A) added for special use tyres and for snow tyres in the C2 traction category and 1 dB(A) for other C2 and C3 snow tyres (Regulation (EC) No 661/2009, Annex II, Part C, points 1.1 and 1.2).
Snow grip is tested under Annex 7 to UNECE Regulation No 117, and a tyre meeting the minimum snow grip index values is classified as a tyre for use in severe snow conditions and carries the three-peak mountain snowflake pictogram. Ice grip is tested against reliable, accurate and reproducible methods, including international standards where appropriate, reflecting the generally recognised state of the art, and a tyre meeting the relevant minimum ice grip index values carries the ice grip pictogram; the operative text does not restrict the ice grip pictogram to any tyre class (Annex I, Parts D and E).
The format is prescribed. The label is at least 75 mm wide and 110 mm high, printed larger only in proportion, on a 100 per cent white background, in Verdana and Calibri, with the CMYK colour codes for the EU logo, the energy logo, the A to E fuel efficiency arrows from 100,0,100,0 for class A to 0,100,100,0 for class E and the A to E wet grip arrows from 100,60,0,0 to 30,0,0,0, and with specified dimensions and line weights for each pictogram and the A to C noise class range centred under the loudspeaker (Annex II, point 2.2, as corrected on 28 October 2021).
EPREL registration and the product information sheet
Before placing a tyre produced after 1 May 2021 on the market, the supplier must enter the Annex VII information into the product database, the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling established under Article 12 of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 (Art. 3, point (10), and Art. 5(1)). The public part holds the supplier’s trade name or trademark, address, contact details and other legal identification, the tyre type identifier, the label in electronic format, the classes and other label parameters and the parameters of the product information sheet. The compliance part holds the tyre type identifiers of all equivalent tyre types already placed on the market, a general description with dimensions, load index and speed rating sufficient for unequivocal identification, the protocols of the testing, grading and measurement of the Annex I parameters, any specific precautions for assembly, installation, maintenance or testing, the measured technical parameters and the calculations performed with them (Annex VII).
Three housekeeping rules follow. A tyre for which changes relevant to the label or the product information sheet are made is a new tyre type. The supplier must indicate in the database when it has ceased to place units of a tyre type on the market. After the final unit has been placed on the market, the compliance-part information is kept for five years (Art. 5(6) and (7)). Tyres produced between 25 June 2020 and 30 April 2021 had to be entered by 30 November 2021, tyres placed on the market before 25 June 2020 could be entered voluntarily, and until an entry exists the supplier must make an electronic version of the technical documentation available for inspection within 10 working days of a market surveillance authority’s request (Art. 5(2), (3) and (4)).
The product information sheet is a standard document, printed or electronic, included in the product brochure or other literature provided with the tyre. It carries the trade name or trademark of the supplier and of the manufacturer where they differ, the tyre type identifier, the size designation with load-capacity index and speed category symbol, the fuel efficiency class, the wet grip class, the external rolling noise class and value in decibels, an indication of whether the tyre is for use in severe snow conditions, an indication of whether it is an ice grip tyre, and the start and, once known, the end date of production of the tyre type as two digits for the week and two for the year (Annex III).
Point of sale, distance selling and advertising
Suppliers must accompany every C1, C2 and C3 tyre placed on the market, free of charge, either with an individual sticker label complying with Annex II and a product information sheet, or with one printed label and product information sheet per batch of one or more identical tyres (Art. 4(1)). Distributors then have to make that information reach the buyer.
At the point of sale, which is any location where tyres are displayed or stored and offered for sale, including car show rooms offering loose tyres, displayed tyres must bear the sticker in a clearly visible position and legible in its entirety with the product information sheet available, including in printed form on request; for a tyre from a batch, the printed label must be shown to the end-user and clearly displayed close to the tyre before the sale (Art. 3, point (6), and Art. 6(1)). Where the tyres offered for sale are not visible to the end-user at the time of sale, the normal situation in a workshop, the distributor must give the end-user a copy of the label before the sale (Art. 6(4)).
Distance selling is covered in three forms. For tyres sold or offered on the internet the label goes close to the price indication, clearly visible, legible and proportionate to the size specified in point 2.1 of Annex II, with the product information sheet accessible; a nested display, a visual interface where the label is reached by a click, roll-over or tactile expansion, is allowed (Art. 4(2) and Art. 6(7)). Paper-based distance selling must show the label and let end-users reach the product information sheet through a free access website and request a printed copy (Art. 6(5)). Telemarketing requires the distributor to tell end-users the class for each label parameter and to tell them the label and the sheet are available on a free access website and in print on request (Art. 6(6)).
Any visual advertisement for a specific tyre type must show the tyre label, and where the advertisement indicates the price the label must be close to the price indication; online, a nested display is allowed. This duty falls on suppliers and distributors alike (Art. 4(3) and Art. 6(2)).
Where end-users intend to acquire a new vehicle, vehicle suppliers and vehicle distributors must provide them, before the sale, with the tyre label for the tyres offered with or fitted on the vehicle and any relevant technical promotional material, and ensure the product information sheet is available (Art. 7). A hosting service provider that allows tyres to be sold through its internet site must enable the display of the label and the product information sheet close to the price indication and inform the distributor of the display obligation (Art. 8); since 17 February 2024 the reference to Article 14 of Directive 2000/31/EC is read as a reference to Article 6 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065.
Technical promotional material and website statements
Technical promotional material is documentation, printed or electronic, produced by a supplier to supplement advertising material with the Annex IV information (Art. 3, point (7)). Where it concerns a specific tyre type, both suppliers and distributors must display the tyre label of that type and include the Annex IV information (Art. 4(4) and Art. 6(3)).
Annex IV sets the order and the quality bar: the fuel efficiency class as a letter A to E, the wet grip class as a letter A to E, the external rolling noise class and measured value in dB, an indication of whether the tyre is for use in severe snow conditions and an indication of whether it is an ice grip tyre, easy to read, easy to understand, and stating the range between the lowest and highest performing tyre types where types within a tyre family are classified differently by dimension or other characteristics (Annex IV, points 1 and 2).
Suppliers must also publish on their websites a link to the relevant Commission webpage dedicated to the regulation, an explanation of the label pictograms and a statement that actual fuel savings and road safety depend heavily on driver behaviour, in particular that eco-driving can significantly reduce fuel consumption, that tyre pressure needs to be checked regularly to optimise fuel efficiency and wet grip, and that stopping distances must always be respected. Suppliers and distributors must, where relevant, publish a statement that ice grip tyres are specifically designed for road surfaces covered with ice and compact snow, should only be used in very severe climate conditions, and could perform sub-optimally in less severe conditions, in particular for wet grip, handling and wear (Annex IV, points 3 and 4).
Obligations by role
Suppliers test and grade each tyre type to Annex I, produce the Annex II label and the Annex III product information sheet, accompany every tyre or batch with them free of charge, enter the Annex VII information into EPREL before placing on the market, submit the values, the additional declared performance information and the label to the relevant national authority beforehand, keep the technical documentation ready within 10 working days until the database entry exists, make documentation available to other Member States’ authorities or accredited bodies on request, ensure the accuracy of every label and sheet, cooperate with market surveillance authorities and remedy non-compliance immediately, and refrain from providing or displaying misleading labels, marks, symbols or inscriptions or labels that mimic the EU tyre label (Art. 4 and Art. 5). Because a supplier is an EU manufacturer, an authorised representative or an importer, an importer carries the whole of that list, not a lighter verification role.
Distributors display the label at the point of sale, hand over a copy where the tyres are not visible, show the label close to the price online and in paper distance selling, read the classes out in telemarketing, show it in visual advertising and include the Annex IV information in technical promotional material, and publish the ice grip statement where relevant (Art. 6 and Annex IV). Vehicle suppliers and vehicle distributors provide the label and the technical promotional material and ensure the sheet is available before a new vehicle is sold (Art. 7). Hosting service providers enable the display and inform the distributor (Art. 8).
Testing, verification and tolerances
The information provided under Articles 4, 6 and 7 must be obtained with the testing methods referred to in Annex I and the Annex V laboratory alignment procedure for rolling resistance (Art. 9). Member States apply the Annex VI verification procedure for each parameter when assessing whether the declared classes conform (Art. 10).
Under Annex VI a single tyre or tyre set is tested first; if the measured values meet the declared classes or the declared noise value within the verification tolerances, the label is considered compliant, and if they do not, three additional tyres or tyre sets are tested and their average is used. Where the classes or values derive from type-approval test results under Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 or UNECE Regulation No 117, Member States may use measurement data from conformity of production tests carried out under Regulation (EU) 2018/858, assessed against the same tolerances. The tolerances are: the aligned rolling resistance coefficient must not exceed the upper limit of the declared class by more than 0,3 N per kN; the measured external rolling noise must not exceed the declared value N by more than 1 dB(A); the measured wet grip index G(T) must not fall below the lower limit of the declared class; and the measured snow grip and ice grip values must not fall below the minimum indices (Annex VI).
Enforcement and penalties
Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 applies to the tyres covered by the regulation and the delegated acts adopted under it (Art. 12(1)). Member States must ensure their national market surveillance authorities establish a system of routine and ad hoc inspections of points of sale (Art. 11(4)), and the national market surveillance strategies drawn up under Article 13 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 must include actions to ensure effective enforcement of tyre labelling (Art. 12(3)). The Commission encourages cooperation and information exchange between authorities, in particular by involving the Administrative Cooperation Group for the Labelling of Tyres more closely (Art. 12(2)), and authorities may recover the costs of document inspection and physical product testing from a supplier that does not comply (Art. 12(4)).
Label accuracy has its own route. The supplier submits the values used to determine the classes, any additional declared performance information and the label to a relevant national authority before the tyre types are placed on the market, so the authority can verify the label (Art. 4(5)). Article 4(5) and Article 11(3) define that authority by reference to the term ‘national authority’ in Article 3, point (37) of Regulation (EU) 2018/858: an approval authority or any other authority involved in and responsible for market surveillance, border control or registration in a Member State in respect of vehicles, systems, components, separate technical units, parts or equipment. The word ‘relevant’ is this regulation’s own; Regulation (EU) 2018/858 does not define a ‘relevant national authority’. Where that authority has sufficient reason to believe a supplier has not ensured the accuracy of the label, it verifies the declared classes and additional information against the values and documentation submitted (Art. 11(3)). Member States may not impede the placing on the market or putting into service of compliant tyres (Art. 11(1)), and where they grant incentives for tyres, those may target only class A or class B tyres for rolling resistance or wet grip, with taxation and fiscal measures not counting as incentives (Art. 11(2)).
Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 is point 34 of Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 and point 14 of its Annex II, the list of Union harmonisation legislation without provisions on penalties; both entries are read as this regulation since Article 17 construes references to the repealed act as references to Regulation (EU) 2020/740, which does contain a penalty provision of its own in Article 11(5). Tyre labelling is not in the Article 4(5) list of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020, so the separate duty to have a responsible economic operator established in the Union does not arise from that regulation; a supplier is in any case an EU manufacturer, an authorised representative or an importer established in the Union.
Penalties are national. Member States lay down the rules on penalties and enforcement mechanisms for infringements of the regulation and of its delegated acts, make sure they are implemented, and had to notify the Commission by 1 May 2021 and without delay of any later amendment; the penalties must be effective, proportionate and dissuasive (Art. 11(5)).
In Denmark the regulation is enforced through the product act, lov om produkter og markedsovervågning, consolidated as LBK nr. 22 of 8 January 2026. Section 2 lists Regulation (EU) 2020/740 as product area nr. 33 and the repealed Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 as nr. 32, and both are product regulations under section 4, nr. 5 and traffic-related products under section 4, nr. 6. Two Danish authorities share the work, and which one you deal with depends on the provision. For Article 4(5) and Article 11(3) — submitting the declared values and the label before placing a tyre on the market, and having them verified — the Danish addressee is Færdselsstyrelsen, which is the approval authority for vehicles and their parts under the vehicle approval and inspection act and executive order nr. 787 of 18 June 2025, and therefore a national authority within Article 3, point (37) of Regulation (EU) 2018/858. For general market surveillance and for penalties, Erhvervsstyrelsen is the control authority under section 9(1) of the product act, through its department Markedsovervågning, which has continued the tasks of Sikkerhedsstyrelsen since January 2026. Section 9(2) does not displace it here: it moves the control only where other legislation lays down rules on the prevention of specific risks, and a tyre label is an information requirement, not a risk rule. The transport minister’s power in section 8 c to make rules on the control of labelling requirements for traffic-related products is exercised by Færdselsstyrelsen, but no executive order under that section covers tyre labelling, so the power is unused. In practice Færdselsstyrelsen publishes the Danish guidance on the tyre label and is the natural first contact (product act, section 8 c and section 9(1) to (3); executive order nr. 787 of 18 June 2025, § 5 and § 11).
The Danish toolkit is the same for tyre labelling as for other product areas: a temporary prohibition on delivery, marketing, display or other making available where the product may present a risk (section 13); orders to warn users of the risks, stop misleading marketing, remedy the non-compliance, stop sales or delivery, withdraw the product effectively and immediately, recall it from users or destroy it safely, and warnings (section 14); prohibitions on placing on the market, making available, delivery or putting into use, with an order to destroy (section 16); and closure of a case with guidance, a prohibition, an order or a warning (section 14 a). A tyre that does not comply with the regulation puts the economic operator in breach of section 5(1)(2) of the product act, which requires products to comply with the product regulations and which section 3 a does not switch off for traffic-related products. That breach is punished under section 37(1)(1) with a fine, unless a higher penalty is due under other legislation, and the penalty can rise to imprisonment of up to 2 years in aggravating circumstances — danger to safety or health, an accident causing serious injury or death, repetition, or a systematic breach for gain — because tyre labelling is product area nr. 33, inside the band the escalation covers. Failing to comply with the authority’s decisions and evading its control are punished on the same scale. Companies can be held criminally liable under chapter 5 of the criminal code. The act also lets the business minister set penalties for the product regulations by executive order, but section 3 a disapplies that power to traffic-related products and no such order has been made for tyre labelling (section 3 a, section 5(1)(2) and section 37).
How Conphora helps
Conphora monitors the Tyre Labelling Regulation, the delegated acts that would bring re-treaded tyres and new parameters into the label, the Commission’s 2026 simplification proposal and the Danish product act, and maps your tyre range against the Article 2 exclusions, the C1, C2 and C3 classes, the Annex I grading scales and the Annex VI tolerances. It flags gaps in the EPREL entry, the label content and format, the product information sheet, the point-of-sale and online display and the Annex IV promotional and website content before an inspection of a point of sale finds them, keeps the evidence and the five-year records in one place, and alerts you when a parameter, a test method, an authority or the regulation itself changes.
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Sources
- Regulation (EU) 2020/740 on the labelling of tyres, consolidated text of 5 June 2020 (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2020/740 as published in OJ L 177, 5 June 2020 (EUR-Lex)
- Document information, dates, corrigenda and relationships for CELEX 32020R0740 (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EC) No 1222/2009 on tyre labelling, repealed from 1 May 2021 (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 on the general safety of motor vehicles, repealed from 6 July 2022 (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 on the general safety of motor vehicles (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2017/1369 setting a framework for energy labelling, which establishes EPREL (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2018/858 on the approval and market surveillance of motor vehicles (EUR-Lex)
- Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, the Digital Services Act (EUR-Lex)
- COM(2026) 565 final, proposal on simplification and better use of digital options for energy and tyre labelling (EUR-Lex)
- Tyres, the EU tyre label and the supplier and dealer duties (European Commission, Energy Efficient Products)
- EPREL information for product suppliers (European Commission, Energy Efficient Products)
- EPREL, the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling (European Commission)
- Bekendtgørelse af lov om produkter og markedsovervågning, LBK nr. 22 af 8. januar 2026 (Retsinformation)
- Bekendtgørelse nr. 787 af 18. juni 2025 om Færdselsstyrelsens opgaver og beføjelser samt klageadgang (Retsinformation)
- Sikkerhedsstyrelsen, en del af Erhvervsstyrelsen from January 2026 (Erhvervsstyrelsen)
This guide is for general information and is not legal advice.