The Standard for Grading of Tire Products and the Management Rules for the Labeling of Tires have been implemented since Sep. 15.
No wonder, it is a big event in China’s tire industry and has drawn wide attention.
The Standard for Grading of Tire Products were drafted by 14 units and the indicators include the rolling friction, wetland traction and noises.
So far, the online application and data management platform is available to tire producers and is widely recognized by both large domestic tire companies and the Chinese branches of overseas tire giants.
But there are some companies expressing their concerns.
Those companies said that it is a voluntary mechanism. If there are no differences between tires with or without labels, it will be a restriction for companies having their products labeled and benefit those having not.
Government may Give Supports
If a tire producer chooses to have its tires labeled, it should pay for the tests and enhance technical research and development, in a bid to reach the standards.
That means quite an extra spending.
If the products that haven’t been label are still available in the market and are even sold well, they will affect those who have been labeled.
However, Zhu Hong, head of the technical and economic commission of China Rubber Industry Association, said there might be subsidy and preferential policies for tire producers who have their products being labeled, or the government will prioritize their products during the procurement.
Zhu said they two rules were issued at the same because supervision is very important during the implementation of the mechanism.
Zhu said if we expect healthy development of the tire industry and hope consumers get what they paid for, there must be supervision. Although CRIA has no right to enforce the law, it can give guidance.
Therefore, the association told consumers to scan the two-dimensional code on the labels, finding out the sources of the data about the tires and whether the products are fakes. At the same time, the organ will expose the counterfeiters via the media.
In addition, it will commission the third-party institutes inspecting the tires being labeled.
Such guidance will support and encourage tire producers have their products labeled and promote the new mechanism.
Consumers’ Acceptance is Key
Besides tire producers, how well the new mechanism is implemented primarily depends on the consumers.
Although the standards protect consumers’ right to know, whether they will pay for them is yet to know.
Through tire labels, consumers will not only know the quality of the tires, it is also more convenient for the consumers to buy green, energy-conservative tires.
Xu Wenying, deputy chairwoman and secretary general of CRIA, said the greatest difficulty for the implementation f the labeling mechanism might be consumers’ low acceptance.
Currently, domestic consumers tend to believe that higher price represents higher quality, cheap goods equal to bad quality. Therefore, some people are blinded whiling buying tires.
An industry insider said it is more important to buy tires that are cost-effective and suitable to the vehicles, and it is unnecessary to buy high-tech tires.
To help consumers make rational choices and improve their acceptance of the labels, Zhu said CRIA invites professionals introducing knowledge about tire usage and maintenance in each year’s Green Tire Safety Week.
What on earth is the consumers’ attitude toward the new mechanism, maybe we should wait for a while after its implementation.
