Market Court prohibits Nokian Tyres from using misleading tyre labelling

Nokian Tyres will not be permitted to use the company’s own tyre label in marketing that targets consumers, unless the company clearly distinguishes this label from the EU’s tyre label.

Nokian Tyres had used the company’s own tyre label for marketing tyres. The label is intended to depict a tyre’s driving capabilities in winter conditions. The company’s own label is very similar to the official EU tyre label, which has been compulsory as of the November 2012.

Nokian Tyres has marketed its tyres using a proprietary label, which may have given consumers the misleading impression that the tyres met with the testing and classification demands required by the EU tyre label. Additionally, the Nokian Tyres tyre label did not give a reliable picture of the tyres’ properties, in comparison to the tyres of other manufacturers that carried the EU label.

The official and unbiased EU tyre label adds to consumer trust in a tyre’s properties. As it is the only acceptable method of labelling, it also makes the system more straightforward and increases the comprehensibility of tyre labels. On the other hand, a tyre manufacturer’s own tyre labels, which can be confused with the official label, undermine the credibility of the system.

The Consumer Ombudsman deemed Nokian Tyres’ marketing to be in violation of the Consumer Protection Act and brought the matter before the Finnish Market Court. The Market Court prohibited Nokian Tyres from using the company’s own tyre labels in marketing that targets consumers, unless the company clearly distinguished this label from the EU’s tyre label.

Nokian Tyres has announced that it no longer uses the label and will not do so in the future.