Please find below this week's main EU regulatory developments related to advertising.

Energy labelling - Council and EP reject calls for energy labelling in tyre advertising

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Energy labelling

Council and EP reject calls for energy labelling in tyre advertising

On 1 October 2009, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament reached a political agreement on the Tyre Labelling Directive. Despite calls from some MEPs for an inclusion of energy information in ads for tyres, the deal specifically excludes “advertisements in newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasting, television and similar online formats” from its scope of application.

The proposal for a Directive on tyre energy labelling aims to apply a labelling system similar to that used for household appliances, using classes ranging from best-performance (green “A” class) to worst (red “G” class). During the debates in the European Parliament, several MEPs called for an extension of this energy labelling (originally limited to packaging and point of sale) to “technical promotional literature”, and it remained uncertain whether commercial communications were covered by this wording (see EU Brief 28/04/09).

The Council of the European Union amended the European Parliament Report and included a specific exclusion of advertising: “Technical promotional material does not include advertisements in newspapers, magazines, radio broadcasting, television and similar online formats.”

Next steps: This political agreement is a non-binding step in the legislative procedure; the Council still has to formally adopt a Common Position (most likely in December 09), which must then be adopted by the European Parliament (in second reading). The formal adoption could take place early next year. However, once a deal such as this one has been struck, it is very unlikely that either institution will want to re-start negotiations.

	WFA Priorities:
WFA and industry partners will work to ensure that the positive outcome of this political agreement is carried until the end of the formal procedure. All efforts will be made to ensure that the results obtained in the Tyre Labelling Directive are extended to other energy labelling legislation, notably the Energy-using Products Directive, currently being revised by the European institutions, which will introduce new energy labelling rules for “energy-using products” more generally (see EU Brief 11/05/09).

	View EU Brief Archives		View WFA Advocacy priorities		European Action Group Meeting 2 Dec 2009 - Brussels, 10:30 - 13:00