Tyres will have to be labelled from 2012 to include information on their energy efficiency, wet grip and noise impact, according to a new EU proposal which is meant to improve their quality.

Although the new labelling system may increase production costs, the European Commission hopes it will be compensated for by a decrease in fuel consumption due to the efficiency of the new tyres.

The new rules would also provide for the possibility that member states provide incentives in order to promote the use of more fuel efficient tyres, however, it will be up to every member state to come up with these incentives.

According to a study accompanying the proposed rules, "fuel savings more than compensate for the increased purchasing price of tyres. Due to their rolling resistance, tyres account for 20 to 30 per cent of the fuel consumption of vehicles."

Following a closed-door meeting, MEPs in the European Parliament's Industry Committee gave the go-ahead to the Commission's proposals.

The new rules, which emulate the existent energy labeling of household appliances, introduce a new car tyre label using classes ranging from best-performance (green "A" class) to worst (red "G" class). Besides indicating how much the tyre affects the car's fuel efficiency, it will also give infor-mation about its performance in wet conditions and its external rolling noise in decibels.

Re-treaded tyres, off-road professional tyres and racing tyres will be exempt from this requirement. Malta has already indicated its agreement with this new directive which now still needs to be rubber stamped by the full EP chamber and the member states.

"This is another pro-environment measure by the EU which Malta fully supports," a government spokes-man said.