I sell tyres under my own brand — what obligations do I incur?
Whoever puts their brand on the tyre is the manufacturer
Short answer: whoever places tyres on the market under their own brand name is considered a manufacturer for the purposes of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), even if the tyres are actually produced by another party. This means that the obligations assigned to manufacturers under Article 27 of the ESPR apply to the party whose name or brand appears on the tyre, and not (only) to the factory that made the tyre. For tyre importers and wholesalers selling under their own label, this is a fundamental point: the role of "manufacturer" in this type of regulation is linked to who presents themselves as such to the market, not to who carries out the physical production.
Who this applies to and who it does not
This equation applies to any party that places a product on the market in the EU under their own name or brand, regardless of whether that party has itself made any changes to the product. A tyre importer who has tyres manufactured by a factory and puts their own brand on them thus falls under this. The same applies to a wholesaler that operates a private label. It does not apply to a party that resells tyres unchanged under the brand of the original manufacturer: that party is a distributor, and distributors have different, lighter obligations than manufacturers. It likewise does not apply to fleet managers who purchase and use tyres without putting their own brand on them; they are end-users, not market participants in this sense. It is also important that this division of roles is linked to the product passport and the associated information obligations as these are worked out for tyres; the precise content of what a "manufacturer" of tyres must supply follows from the product-specific delegated act for tyres, which does not yet exist.
No fixed date yet, but a fixed work plan
There is no fixed date yet for when this obligation for tyres will come into force. The ESPR itself is the framework regulation; the specific requirements for a product category such as tyres — including the moment when the digital product passport becomes mandatory — come in a separate delegated act. According to the ESPR work plan 2025-2030, that delegated act for tyres is expected in 2027. Until that act is published, the existing rules apply to tyres, but not the obligation for a digital product passport. As soon as the delegated act is published, the actual date will be added here; an estimate of when the passport for tyres will become mandatory cannot be given on the basis of the sources currently available.
What this means for those selling under their own brand
For those bringing tyres onto the market under their own brand, the sequence of approach is roughly as follows. First: establish that the role of manufacturer lies with your own business as soon as your own brand appears on the tyre, regardless of who physically made the tyre. Next: ascertain what data from the actual producer is needed to be able to compile a product passport later, and make arrangements for the supply of that data — materials, origin and technical specifications should come from the factory, even if the brand owner is responsible for the passport itself. Then: keep an eye on when the delegated act for tyres is published, because only then will it become clear which data is precisely mandatory and as from when. Finally: bear in mind that compiling, hosting for ten years and providing a QR data carrier for the passport is practical work that can be outsourced, but responsibility for the accuracy of the data remains with the party that is considered the manufacturer — that is, the brand owner.
The legal basis: Article 27 of the ESPR
This classification follows from Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), which describes the obligations of manufacturers. Characteristic of this type of EU product regulation is that the role of manufacturer is not reserved for those who physically produce, but is assigned to those who place the product on the market under their own name or brand. For the precise scope and exact wording, the official text of Article 27 is authoritative; the product-specific implementation for tyres, including the date of entry into force, follows from the delegated act for this product group to be published.
Anyone who now sells tyres under their own brand can already map out which technical and material data their own supplier can provide, and document that agreement before the delegated act is published — then there will be no need to search for information under time pressure later, information that the factory may no longer have readily available.
What this is based on
The regulation itself is available on EUR-Lex. We provide references per statement; you do not have to take our word for it.
What you must do concretely
What is expected of you
Private label tire production and sales — common in the tire sector — has one legal consequence that is not optional: whoever puts their own name or brand on a tire becomes the manufacturer within the meaning of the ESPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/1781), even if production itself is entirely handled by a third party. Article 27 of that regulation sets out the obligations for manufacturers, and those obligations follow the brand, not the factory. Doubt about that status is precisely where many private label sellers start; Am I an importer or manufacturer according to the ESPR? goes into this in more detail.
Ensuring the product passport exists
The obligation to have a digital product passport drawn up rests with the manufacturer, and with private label that is the company whose name appears on the tire — not the factory that physically makes the tire. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, this practically means there must be a process in which technical data from the production partner is collected, checked and converted into a passport per tire type. That process can be outsourced, but the responsibility that the passport exists and is correct does not shift with the outsourcing.
Ensuring the passport stays with the product
Article 27 expects the passport to actually be accessible via the data carrier on or with the product, for the period applicable to tires. With private label, this means the QR code or similar carrier must be correctly applied at the production partner — not only upon arrival at your own warehouse. A company that puts its brand on tires from an external factory is well advised to make this a fixed part of the purchase order with that factory.
Ensuring data is correct and remains up to date
The manufacturer is responsible under private label for ensuring that the data in the passport matches the actual product. With private label production, this is an extra step compared to manufacturing yourself: the data comes from a third party, but responsibility for accuracy does not shift with it. For a mid-sized company, this is often where things go wrong, because the private label seller does not always have the source data themselves to verify anything. What that concretely means if the data is incorrect after all is set out on who is liable if there is an error in the product passport data.
Ensuring marking and identification
In addition to the passport itself, Article 27 expects the manufacturer to ensure correct product identification — so that a tire under private label can be traced to a specific type, batch or model. For a private label seller with multiple production lines at different factories, this means there must be an internal system that links brand, model and origin, even if the underlying process differs per factory.
Keeping documentation
The manufacturer keeps technical documentation and proof of conformity available. With private label, that documentation is often (partly) held by the production partner. For a company with 10 to 100 employees, the practical point here is that "keeping available" also means: able to request within a reasonable timeframe, not only after a lengthy search at a factory in another country.
Where things go wrong in practice
A first situation that often occurs: a company has tires produced at different factories under one private label brand name, and assumes that each factory will arrange the passport itself. That is a misconception — the brand name determines who the manufacturer is, not the production location.
A second situation: the production partner does supply technical data, but in a format or language that does not match what the passport requires, and nobody within your own company checks whether the translation is correct before the passport goes live.
A third situation arises when changing production partners: the own brand remains, the factory changes, and the assumption is that the existing product passport can simply continue. However, a different factory often comes with different technical specifications, which means that the product passport effectively no longer fits the product.
A fourth situation occurs with an own brand that is produced by a foreign manufacturer: the company believes that responsibility lies with that manufacturer because they physically make the tyres, whereas the ESPR links responsibility to the brand on the product. See also My manufacturer is located outside the EU — who arranges the product passport then?, even though that page specifically addresses import — the underlying principle (responsibility does not automatically follow the physical production location) applies here as well.
A fifth situation: when the own-brand company is merged with or acquired by another company, it is assumed that existing product passports automatically transfer, without anyone checking who is now registered as the manufacturer. What exactly is involved in this is described on what happens to existing product passports if my company is taken over.
What you can record
- An agreement with the production partner that specifies who provides the technical data, in what format and by what date before delivery.
- An internal list of tyre types under own brand, linked to the corresponding production partner and manufacturing location, so that traceability does not depend on a single person.
- A fixed control moment at which incoming technical data is compared with the actual production specifications, before the product passport is published.
- Agreements on what happens when changing production partners: when a product passport is amended or replaced.
- An overview of where the technical documentation of each production partner is stored and how quickly it can be obtained.
- A fixed person of responsibility within the own company for the product passport process, even if the execution (drawing up and hosting) is outsourced.
For those who are not yet certain whether all this applies to their own tyres, it is advisable first to look at Does the digital product passport apply to my tyres? — the obligations above apply only to tyre types that fall under the regulation.
This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the legislation that this platform concerns. We do not know your situation. If you are in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.
Written with AI based on the sources above, checked by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something incorrect? Let us know — corrections are given priority.