An environmental regulation was introduced in summer 2015 that extended the group of people who can be held legally responsible for the management of waste: this responsibility no longer refers only to those who have materially generated/produced a waste, but also to those to whom the production of a waste is “legally referable”.

As regards the replacement of tyres, this means that in addition to the duly authorized “tyre dealer” or repair shop, which have always been considered to be producers of the waste as their activity involves the generation of end-of-life tyres, the subject (e.g. the driver of the vehicle) who requests the tyre replacement could also become jointly responsible.

This change to the law therefore makes it advisable to take greater caution when changing tyres in order to avoid running into issues deriving from the new regulatory regime:

  1. By replacing tyres at a duly authorized “tyre dealer” or repair shop and asking them to release (and then keeping) a tax document for the sale of the newly purchased tyres and for any related services (invoice or receipt) that clearly shows the payment of the environmental contribution provided for by law for the correct management of the tyre-waste.
  2. By only leaving the replaced tyres that you no longer intend to use at the “tyre dealer” or repair shop where the tyres were changed, making sure that they operate in compliance with the legal obligations provided for by Ministerial Decree 82/2011.  The “tyre dealer” or repair shop is obligated to take responsibility for the replaced tyre for free and to manage it correctly.  On the contrary, the taking of responsibility and management of the tyre-waste by the vehicle’s driver involves legal burdens and responsibilities, which are also punishable by law.

If the tyre is purchased by the final consumer at a shopping centre or via the internet (B2C), the environmental contribution must be paid upon purchase and must be visible in the relative sales tax document (invoice or receipt).  In this case, no additional environmental contributions whatsoever must be paid for the correct management of the tyre upon its subsequent replacement.  The relative tax document from the “tyre dealer” or repair shop at which the tyre was changed must only report the services obtained (replacement, balancing, alignment check, etc.).  Point 2 above is also applicable in this case.

The waste legislation is obviously not applicable to tyres that the vehicle’s driver still intends to use as such (example: tyres removed during seasonal changes).