Article 3(18) refers to the definition of the term in Article 3(2) of the Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 on market surveillance and compliance of products: ‘placing on the market’ means the first making available of a product on the Union market.’
The operation is reserved either for a manufacturer, an authorized representative or an importer established in the Union, i.e. they are the only economic operators who place tyres on the Union market. When supplier provides a tyre to a distributor or an end-user for the first time, the operation is always considered in legal terms as ‘placing on the market’. Any subsequent operation, for instance, from a distributor to another distributor or from a distributor to an end-user is defined as ‘making available’ (see next question).
It is important to underline that first making available is related to individual units of a specific tyre type1 and is associated to registration in EPREL (i.e. from the start of application of a Regulation, the registration has to precede the “placing on the market” and the date indicated in the registrations for this has to be equal or later).
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.