According to Article 3(17) of the tyre labelling Regulation in conjunction with Article 3(1) of the Market Surveillance Regulation, ‘making available on the market’ means any supply of a product for distribution, consumption or use on the Union market in the course of a commercial activity, whether in return for payment or free of charge’.
A tyre type is 'first placed on the market' only once by each supplier, but units or batches of tyres may be 'made available' several times throughout the supply chain (first wholesaler, second wholesaler, etc., retailer) before it reaches the end- user (consumer or professional user) or is further mounted into another product.
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.