Sectors and timing
When a tyre needs a digital product passport
No EU tyre passport rule exists. The Commission plans to adopt one in late 2027, so a tyre passport applies in 2029 at the earliest.
No tyre needs a digital product passport today. A passport becomes a condition of market access only when a delegated act covers the product group. The European Union (EU) has adopted no delegated act for tyres. The European Commission marks its own date for that rule as a plan.
That plan puts adoption in late 2027. A rule adopted then applies in 2029 at the earliest.
Two mistakes cost you money. The first is to buy a passport system against a rule that nobody has written. The second is to read 2027 as a deadline.
Check first that a tyre is really your product
You may need a different page on this site. So check your own product group before you read further.
- You sell a merino jumper or a wool blend suit. Read clothing, footwear and textiles.
- You sell an e-bike battery. Your date is already law. Read batteries.
- You sell wine, cheese or honey. The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) does not reach your product. Read food and feed are excluded.
- You sell anything else. Read which products need a passport, and when.
No tyre delegated act exists, so nothing binds today
ESPR sets up the digital product passport. It is Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, and it is in force.
ESPR by itself makes no product need a passport. Article 9 makes a passport a condition of market access. That condition reaches a product group only when a separate rule covers the group. The separate rule is a delegated act, and the Commission adopts one group at a time. See what is a delegated act.
As at 14 August 2026 the Commission has adopted no delegated act for any product group. Its published plan names tyres as a candidate group, beside iron and steel, aluminium, textiles and furniture.
Two sources give 2027, and both mean adoption
The Commission's indicative timeline puts tyres in the second half of 2027. Textiles and aluminium sit in the same band. See aluminium.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade published a market report in October 2025. It gives a year for each category, and it lists tyres at 2027. That year is an adoption year as well, so it is not a compliance date. See what New Zealand agencies have said and the market report itself.
| Item | Status |
|---|---|
| ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 | In force since 18 July 2024 |
| A tyre delegated act | Not adopted |
| Commission adoption date for tyres | Indicative, Q3 to Q4 2027 |
| The October 2025 market report | Lists tyres at 2027, an adoption year |
| A published preparatory study milestone for tyres | None |
| Earliest date a tyre passport can apply | 2029 |
The tyre year rests on the working plan alone
No preparatory study milestone for tyres is published. The same is true for aluminium, for furniture and for mattresses. A preparatory study for textiles does exist. Less evidence supports the tyre year than the textile year.
The Commission adds a footnote to the textile date. The footnote says the timelines may change as the work progresses. So monitor for the delegated act itself, and treat the published year as a plan that can move.
Four steps must occur before your date
Only the first row below is a plan. The rows under it come from articles of ESPR that are in force.
| Step | Time | Source and status |
|---|---|---|
| The Commission adopts the tyre act | Q3 to Q4 2027 | Commission timeline, indicative |
| Parliament and Council may object | Two months, extendable by two more | ESPR Article 72(6), in force |
| The act enters into force | 20 days | The usual interval |
| Companies prepare | At least 18 months | ESPR Article 4(4), in force |
| A tyre passport applies | 2029 at the earliest | Calculated |
ESPR sets the transition period. Its text says the date of application "shall not be earlier than 18 months from its entry into force". The same article allows an earlier date in duly justified cases. So treat that period as the usual minimum. See how to read the timeline.
Nobody can tell you which data a tyre passport needs
No act exists, so no data fields exist. A list of tyre passport fields that a vendor shows you today is a guess.
Pilot work on tyres does exist. An EU-funded project, CIRPASS-2, names tyres as one of four target value chains. The other three are textiles, electrical and electronic equipment, and construction materials. The tyre maker Michelin is a partner. The project reports feasibility and interoperability. It publishes no cost, time, error rate or benefit figures.
The standards around the data are public, but the tyre data is not. The Commission cites six passport standards in Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1736.
| Standard | Subject |
|---|---|
| EN 18216 | Data exchange protocols |
| EN 18219 | Unique identifiers |
| EN 18220 | Data carriers |
| EN 18221 | Data storage, archiving, and persistence |
| EN 18222 | Application programming interfaces for product passport lifecycle management and searchability |
| EN 18223 | System interoperability |
The subjects above come from the titles in the Decision. The full texts are paywalled, so this page gives the subjects alone and states no scope.
There is no EN 18217 and no EN 18218. A vendor document that writes the six as a range has invented two standards.
Citation gives a product built to a standard a presumption of conformity. The standards stay voluntary. See the six standards.
One EU tyre rule applies today, and it is a label
If you do sell tyres into the EU, one information duty already binds you.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Rule | Regulation (EU) 2020/740, on the labelling of tyres for fuel efficiency and other parameters |
| Status | In force |
| Duty | Article 4: the supplier gives a label with each tyre |
| Tyres covered | Classes C1, C2 and C3 |
| Cost to the buyer | Free of charge |
| Classes on the label | Fuel efficiency, wet grip, external rolling noise |
That duty puts information on a label. It creates no passport and no registry entry.
The EU importer usually places the tyre on the EU market
A New Zealand company usually has no EU establishment. So the operator that places the product on the EU market is usually the EU importer.
That does not release you. The importer cannot publish data that you never sent it. See who is the economic operator and what a non-EU exporter must supply.
Read your product group page first, and buy no tyre passport this year
- Read the page for your own product group first.
- Do not buy a tyre passport system this year.
- Check the tyre label rule, because that one applies now.
- Monitor for the delegated act itself, because the year in the plan can change.
- Ask your EU customer which data they need, and when.
A buyer can ask you for product data at any time, with no law behind the request. See what this means for New Zealand exporters for the full position.