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Are tyres inside a container just downloaded at the harbour already considered as 'placed on the market' and thus covered by obligations as from Article 4?

Are tyres inside a container just downloaded at the harbour or on a truck passing customs at an EU border already considered as 'placed on the market' and thus covered by obligations as from Article 4?

Not always. It depends on whether the individual tyres or batches have been subject to a commercial transaction, or not yet. According to the Blue Guide, the first making available of a product supposes an offer or an agreement (written or verbal) between two or more legal or natural persons for the transfer of ownership, possession or any other right concerning the product in question after the stage of manufacture has taken place.

Being unloaded at a harbor or passing customs is in itself not sufficient to consider that a tyre has been placed on the market. However, in most cases, tyres unloaded at the harbor or passing the border are already subject to an agreement and can hence be considered as placed on the market, thus those tyres must bear an individual label sticker, or, for batches, 'a printed label' must accompany them.

Disclaimer: Please note that the European Commission cannot provide a legally binding interpretation of the EU legislation, as this is the sole competence of the European Court of Justice. Any remarks from the European Commission services are without prejudice to the position the Commission might take should related cases arise in a procedure before the Court of Justice.