(EurActiv 26 Nov 09) The European Parliament yesterday (25 November) gave its final blessing to a new EU regulation that will introduce fuel efficiency labels for all new tyres from November 2012.

The new label will follow the 'A to G' classification system of the European energy label, so the best-performing tyres will be awarded an 'A'. In addition to its impact on fuel use, the label will provide information about the product's performance in wet conditions and rolling noise in decibels.

In order to promote higher-performance tyres, member states will no longer be allowed to provide incentives for tyres below class 'C' on fuel efficiency and wet grip.

MEPs approved the political agreement reached early last month with member states in the EU Council of Ministers without a vote (EurActiv 02/10/09).

Under the final compromise, manufacturers will either have to stick the label on each tyre or provide a paper version that should be shown to the end user before purchase. This was considered an improvement to some of the earlier drafts, which only spoke about the label "accompanying" the tyre.

EurActiv 26 Nov 09: Parliament rubberstamps law on tyre labelling