Is the transfer of a tyre from the company production line to its own stocks in EU before distribution to be considered as placing on the EU market?

If the individual tyre or batches are stored in the manufacturers’ warehouse and have not been subject yet to any commercial transaction, this means that they have not been placed on the market. According to the Blue Guide, placing on the market is about first making available a product and it assumes that an offer or an agreement (written or verbal) had been concluded between two or more legal or natural persons for the transfer of ownership, possession or any other right concerning the product.

However in most cases, tyres stored in a distributor’s warehouse may have been already subject to an agreement between two legal or natural persons and can hence be considered as “placed on the market”, or further made available in the supply chain e.g.: from a distributor to another distributor.

Otherwise said, it is not a matter of physical transfer (plant/warehouse) but of written or verbal agreement between two or more legal or natural persons for a transfer of ownership that triggers the placing on the market / making available the product in question after the stage of manufacture has taken place.

^D_{isclaimer: 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.}