The MSTYR15 project, which started in April 2016, sets out the market surveillance of passenger car tyres and their energy labels through tyre label inspections and the verification of technical documents, as well as laboratory testing of tyres for compliance with the tyre Energy Labelling regulation.
Like the EEPLIANT project, MSTYR15 is funded by the EU under the Horizon 2020 programme and under the coordination of PROSAFE. It also aims to implement the economic and environmental benefits outlined in the Energy Labelling regulations by removing incorrectly labelled tyres from the market, increasing consumer confidence by ensuring that the tyre labelling legislation is enforced, and by providing resources, training and best practice guidelines to MSA’s – of which there are 15 across Europe and Turkey.
The project focusses on the energy efficiency (rolling resistance), safety (wet grip) and the noise level of tyres, ensuring that the product label accurately reflects the parameters of the tyre, allowing consumers to make environmentally and economically sound purchase decisions.
One of the aims of the project is to inform the tyre suppliers of their obligations under EU legislation, and to ensure that consumers are getting the right information in order to make fair comparisons between different tyres.
As part of the project, a data-capturing and storage system was created, allowing member states to collect, monitor and share market surveillance and tyre testing results through a dedicated website and custom app to record data from onsite visits.
In undertaking investigations as part of this project, Miltcon Services Ltd. has inspected 1080 tyres available on the Irish market, requested 105 technical documents from tyres from suppliers, and sent 22 tyres to an accredited laboratory testing facility to verify the accuracy of the information provided on the energy labels for rolling resistance and wet grip.
The tyres were selected using a risk-based approach incorporating the label ratings (energy efficiency, wet grip, and sound power level), tyre market share and cost. Based on this result, information and technical document requests were then issued in order to verify the information on the tyre label, and laboratory testing was conducted on tyres considered a potential higher risk of non-compliance.
Miltcon Services Ltd will continue to provide assistance in market surveillance activities until May of 2018 when the project comes to an end. For further information, please see the MSTYR15 Twitter page https://twitter.com/mstyr15?lang=en.