Tire Labeling Is a Double-edged Sword: CRIA Official

The 2nd China Green Tire Safety Week and the Releasing Conference of Tire Labels by China Rubber Industry Association were kicked off on Jun. 15 in Qingdao, Shandong province.

During the event, Zhu Hong, director of Technology and Economy Committee, CRIA, accepted exclusive interview by Tireworld.com.cn.

Not to Confuse Producers and Consumers

Tireworld: More than one organs have been promoting works related to green tire labeling, what is your opinion?

Zhu: We have been negotiating with the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China, the Standardization Administration of China, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, expecting to unify the standards, so as to prevent confusing consumers and tire producers.

We expect to eliminate outdated capacity and low-end products through tire labeling, and to restrain vicious market competition.

No matter it is green transformation or structural adjustment, positive negotiation and cooperation among all parties are necessary.

Market economy needs a right direction and CRIA has been working as a guider.

Tireworld: Will there be more than one standard system existing at the same time?

Zhu: We have also been talking with China Wheel Organization for Standardization.

I think the government will not let a tire labeling with three or even four marks.

Representatives from CAAC also participated in this year's Green Tire Safety Week. They expect green tire certification will develop regularly to push forward industrial progress and give guidance for consumers.

CRIA Willing to Work as A Bridge

Tireworld: What is CRIA's role in unifying tire labels?

Zhu: Everyone has been working hard for the issue, but good negotiation is necessary.

CRIA is responsible to work as a bridge to push it toward a bright future and boost technological progress of the tire industry. It will be crucial.

The tire industry in China is huge with massive output and numerous producers. The quality can vary even after the implementation of the tire labeling system.

The consequence of overcapacity is vicious market competition. We expect order, healthy development of tire industry, which means we have to do more works in the aspect of technology.

Tireworld: What has CRIA done in promoting the establishment of tire labeling system?

Zhu: Without government support, CRIA dedicated in the work with staff, resources and capital.

We gathered experts from all aspects while drafting the tire labeling files. The experts made a lot of preparations in testing, structural designing, formula designing and laws.

One of the experts was from China Automotive Technology and Research Center (Tianjin).

CRIA started researching green tire industrialization from 2012, our tire labeling system draw experiences from the EU and the US together with the actual condition in China.

Supervision Has to be Strict

Tireworld: CRIA rolls out the Standards for Tire Rating and the Management Regulations on Tire Labeling, why you the regulations are necessary?

Zhu: Because supervision is really important.

When we talked with ETRMA, they mentioned two issues.

On the one hand, the tire labeling mechanism has been enforced for years, but it hasn't really been widely acknowledged by consumers; on the other hand, they didn't supervise it.

Because the EU is a community and consists of many countries who haven't pay for supervision, which requires a large amount of money.

Form CRIA's point of view, we hope the industry develops healthily and consumers get what they paid for, so supervision is a must. CRIA doesn't have the power of enforcement, we can only give guidance.

Tireworld: How to realize supervision through guidance?

Zhu: We will inform the media to give pressure to the counterfeiters.

CRIA also hope the government will provide policy support.

Labeled tires should be different from unlabeled tires, there should be discount or subsidy, or the governments may offer their support from centralized procurement, in a bid to encourage companies turning better.

Labeling and Spot Check Are Both Double-edged Swords

Tireworld: How the spot check will be done in the process of supervision in future?

Zhu: We will work out detailed rules for implementation. Spot check is a double-edged sword, so is labeling.

For companies, labeling their tire products enables the public to supervise them.

When there are no labels, they can exaggerate their products in advertisements.

Once the labels are on the tires, any consumer could report the companies as long as the labels are not true.