Tyre Certification Marks Explained — every mark on your sidewall, photographed

What Are Tyre Certification Marks?

Every country that takes tyre safety seriously requires tyres to pass independent testing before they can be sold. When a tyre passes, it receives a physical stamp moulded into the sidewall during manufacturing. These stamps, called certification marks, prove the tyre has been tested for braking, durability, speed tolerance, and construction quality by an accredited authority.

Different countries have different systems. The EU uses the E-mark. China uses CCC. Indonesia uses SNI. India uses BIS. The Philippines uses BPS. Thailand uses TIS. South Korea uses KC. Taiwan uses BSMI. Japan adds a voluntary JATMA eco label. Australia applies AS/NZS 2230 as a mandatory standard for locally-produced passenger tyres. On top of that, manufacturers stamp OE codes (BMW ★, Mercedes MO, Porsche N0-N6), runflat acronyms (RSC, RFT, ZP, DSST) and the EU Tyre Label, all of which commonly get mistaken for certifications but are something different. We cover all of them below.

New Zealand has no mandatory tyre certification. Even though AS/NZS 2230 is technically a "joint" Australia-NZ standard on paper, NZ has no regulation that requires tyres sold here to actually meet it. A tyre can be legally imported, sold, and fitted to your vehicle in NZ without passing any third-party safety test. We have documented tyres from well-known premium brands sold in NZ with no E-mark, no CCC, and no certification marks at all.

This guide shows you exactly what each certification mark looks like on a real tyre, what it means, and how to spot whether your tyres carry them. Every photo below was taken by us during routine tyre inspections at our workshop in Te Puke.

Quick Reference: Certification Systems at a Glance

A fast overview of the major tyre certification systems you may find on tyres sold in New Zealand. Each row links to the full section below.

Full details on each system below. See also EU Tyre Label, UTQG (USA), JATMA (Japan), KC (Korea), BSMI (Taiwan), OE codes, Runflat markings.

How Much Should You Trust Each Certification?

Not all certifications mean the same thing. Some test structural integrity only (will the tyre hold together?), some test performance (wet grip, wear, noise), and some tell you almost nothing. Here is how we rank them.

Two completely different types of certification

Before we rank, it helps to understand that "certification" covers two very different things, and most guides conflate them:

• Structural certifications prove the tyre will not physically fail at its rated load and speed. Tests dimensions, load/speed endurance, high-speed running, bead unseating. Examples: E-mark (UNECE R30), CCC, SNI, BIS, TIS, BPS, KC, BSMI, JIS, ADR, FMVSS 109/119/139. These tell you "this tyre will not explode on the motorway." They do not tell you whether it will grip in the wet or last 20,000 km.
• Performance certifications measure how well the tyre actually performs: wet grip, rolling resistance (fuel efficiency), noise, treadwear. These tell you the differences between two tyres that both "won't fall apart". Examples: EU Tyre Label (based on UNECE R117), UTQG grades (US), JATMA eco label (Japan).

A tyre with both types stacked (e.g. E-mark and EU Tyre Label and UTQG) tells you far more than a tyre with just one structural cert. A tyre with zero certs tells you nothing at all.

Trust tier ranking (highest → lowest)

Common questions answered by this ranking

"If a tyre only has CCC, is that bad?" - No. A CCC-only tyre has passed the same type of structural testing as an E-marked tyre. It is in Tier C, not Tier E. The reason to prefer E-mark is not that the tests are harder but that the enforcement surrounding the cert is stronger (international traceability, recall mechanisms, post-market surveillance).

"If a tyre has both CCC and E-mark, which test was it actually built to?" - Usually both. Factories producing for multi-market export run one production line and submit samples for multiple certifications. The tyre is built to meet the strictest applicable standard, then certified under all relevant schemes. This is why a well-certified tyre (E-mark + CCC + SNI + DOT + EU Label + UTQG) is generally a good signal: multiple independent authorities have signed off on it.

"Is TIS stricter than BSMI? Is BIS stricter than SNI?" - Within Tier C, the differences in test rigor are small because all of them are harmonised with the same underlying UNECE methodology. The differences in practical enforcement vary year to year and cannot be ranked reliably. None of them are Tier B equivalent because their surveillance is domestic-focused.

"Where does the EU Tyre Label actually sit?" - Tier A, above all others. It is the only certification on this list that gives you a consumer-facing grade (A through E) for performance attributes. Combined with UTQG (also Tier A), these are the two certifications that let you genuinely compare tyres side by side. Unfortunately neither is on NZ's accepted standards list, so there is no legal requirement to display them here.

E-mark Performance Codes: S2WR1, S2WR2

Next to many E-marks you will see a code like S2WR1 or S2WR2. This is a UNECE Regulation 117 type-approval suffix, defined in R117 paragraph 5.3.2, that tells you what performance tests the tyre has passed. The suffix combines up to three separate indicators:

Use our Tyre Grades Guide to understand the separate UTQG treadwear, traction, and temperature rating system used in the US market.

SNI - Standar Nasional Indonesia

SNI (Standar Nasional Indonesia) is mandatory for all tyres sold in Indonesia. It is administered by BSN (Badan Standardisasi Nasional) under standard SNI 0098 (passenger) or SNI 0099 (commercial). Indonesia is a major tyre manufacturing hub, and SNI marks appear on a wide variety of brands.

The short-format codes in full

Two of the most common short-format numbers in our archive were missing from this guide. 008 appears on Bridgestone, 010 on Hankook and Laufenn, and between them they account for more inspected tyres than the four short codes shown above put together.

We have documented three distinct SNI format variants across different manufacturers, ranging from the full diamond-arrow symbol with certificate number and year, to a short number-only format, to just the text "SNI" with no number at all.

Full Format: Diamond-Arrow with Number and Year

One example per SNI certificate year we've documented, 12 years, 2012 through 2024. The only gap left in that run is 2019, which has not come through the workshop yet. If you have one, let us know. The years appear in chronological order below: premium brands in the early years, the Indonesian-domestic manufacturers in the middle, and the newest 2024 paperwork on Chinese-made Hilo.

Short Format: Diamond Symbol + Short Number

Some tyres carry the standard SNI diamond-arrow symbol followed by just a short reference number (typically 3 digits, but occasionally 2 or as high as mid-200s) rather than the full NNNNNN/YYYY certificate format. These short codes appear to be factory-internal mould references tied to the manufacturer's SPPT SNI certificate, they're not a different certification, just a shorter moulded reference. We've documented 16 different short-format numbers: 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 013, 020, 023, 067, 075, 083, 113, 114, 252 and 265. One more, 012, turns up on a Pirelli P Zero E but we have not managed a clean close-up of it yet. Photos are ordered lowest to highest number below.

Electronic Mark: Plain "SNI" Text, No Symbol, No Number

Some tyres carry just the text "SNI" moulded into the sidewall with no diamond-arrow symbol and no certificate number. This is the official Electronic Mark (Tanda Elektronik), a current BSN-approved alternative to the traditional stylized SNI mark, not an older or simplified format. BSN introduced the Electronic Mark as part of modernising the SNI system for digital traceability. The underlying SPPT-SNI certificate is identical regardless of which visual format appears on the tyre.

BPS and TIS - Philippines and Thailand

Two less common certification systems we have documented on tyres sold in NZ. Both were found on the same Maxxis Bravo HPM3 manufactured in Thailand, alongside E4 and SNI marks, giving this single tyre four national certifications.

BPS - Bureau of Philippine Standards

BPS certification is mandatory for tyres sold in the Philippines. It appears as a globe symbol with "CERTIFIED Product Quality" and "BPS" text, along with a certificate number. The Philippines runs two parallel schemes: PS Licence (issued to the manufacturer's factory, 3-year validity, moulded into the tyre) and ICC (Import Commodity Clearance, per-shipment, usually a sticker). A number moulded into the sidewall is almost always a PS Licence.

TIS - Thai Industrial Standards Institute

TIS (TISI) certification is mandatory for tyres sold in Thailand. Thailand operates a 4-standard tyre framework, all adopted in 2017 (B.E. 2560) and enforced from 2019:

The year "2560" in TIS numbering uses the Thai Buddhist calendar, add 543 to convert to CE (2560 BE = 2017 CE). A passenger car tyre sold in Thailand must comply with both TIS 2718 (safety) and TIS 2721 (performance), exactly as in the EU where tyres need both R30 and R117.

Thailand built its own ATTRIC testing facility (Automotive and Tyre Testing, Research and Innovation Center) in Chachoengsao province for domestic R117 testing. Its wet-grip test track was certified by Applus+IDIADA of Spain, the same Spanish authority that issues E9 marks.

KC - Korea Certification Mark

KC (Korea Certification) is South Korea's mandatory safety and environmental certification. For tyres, KC is administered by the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS) under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The moulded KC stamp is typically a stylised "K" enclosed in a circle, often accompanied by the text "KC". Tyres sold on the Korean domestic market carry it alongside any export-market certifications they may also have.

Korea is a major tyre-manufacturing country. Hankook, Kumho, Nexen, Laufenn all originate there, but KC marks are relatively rare on internationally-traded stock because Korean brands typically export under E-mark or DOT rather than stamping KC on export-spec tyres.

JATMA Eco Label - Japan Voluntary Low-Rolling-Resistance Mark

The JATMA eco label is a voluntary Japanese certification administered by the Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association (JATMA). It appears as two stamped pictograms: a fuel pump icon (低燃費タイヤ = "low-fuel-consumption tyre") and a globe-with-grid icon (wet grip / eco performance). Together they certify that the tyre meets specific rolling resistance and wet grip thresholds defined by JATMA's labelling system.

This is not an ECE regulation and not the same as the EU Tyre Label, it's a Japanese industry scheme, only appears on Japanese-domestic-market tyres (often Dunlop Enasave, Bridgestone Ecopia, Yokohama BluEarth, Toyo NanoEnergy), and is voluntary rather than mandatory. Useful to know when a grey-import tyre turns up with unfamiliar pictograms.

OE Homologation Codes - Vehicle-Maker-Specific Approvals

Not every sidewall mark is a regulatory certification. Many tyres also carry OE (Original Equipment) homologation codes, factory-specific approval marks from the vehicle manufacturer, confirming that the tyre has been specifically engineered and tested for a particular car model. These are contractual marks between the tyremaker and the carmaker, not government regulations.

OE codes are the single most commonly confused marks on a tyre sidewall, buyers see "MO" or a star symbol and assume it's a safety certification. It isn't: an OE mark tells you which vehicle the tyre was designed for, not whether the tyre is legal to sell.

NOM - Norma Oficial Mexicana (Mexico)

NOM (Norma Oficial Mexicana, "Official Mexican Standard") is Mexico's mandatory regulatory certification for tyres sold in the Mexican domestic market. It's administered under the country's NOM framework for vehicle components and confirms the tyre has been tested to the relevant Mexican safety standards.

The "NOM" letters are frequently mistaken for an OE-maker code because the letters look similar to BMW/Mercedes/Audi short codes like MO, AO, N0. They're not. NOM is a regulatory stamp in the same family as CCC (China), BIS (India), SNI (Indonesia) and BPS (Philippines), it confirms market access, not a carmaker fitment approval.

We've documented NOM on two tyres so far, which represents a rare find in the NZ aftermarket. One is a Mexican-made Continental (the hero example, shown first), the other is a Portuguese-made Continental cross-certified for Mexican sale. Same brand, same cert, two very different supply chains.

Example 1. Mexican-Made Continental ContiTrac TR

This Continental ContiTrac TR 275/70R18 is the centrepiece of our NOM documentation, built at a Continental Mexico plant. Below: sidewall overview, then the country-of-manufacture stamp, then the NOM cert itself. The same tyre also carries E4 (Netherlands) and SNI short-format 020 (Indonesia) for multi-market distribution, shown in the supporting grid underneath.

Supporting certs on the same Mexican-made tyre

Example 2. Portuguese-Made Continental ContiPremiumContact 2

Our second NOM example, made in a completely different part of the world. European Continental production cross-certified for Latin American sale, the reverse supply-chain strategy compared to Example 1.

EU Tyre Label - European Performance Labelling

The EU Tyre Label is a separate regulation from UNECE e-mark, it's the performance label (fuel efficiency, wet grip, exterior noise) that appears on the tyre's packaging or as a sticker, not as a moulded stamp. EU Regulation 1222/2009 (now replaced by Regulation 2020/740 from May 2021) requires this label on every tyre sold in EU member states.

Under the 2020/740 update, the label was redesigned to match EU's energy-label A to E grading, with new pictograms for severe snow (3PMSF) and ice performance (added 2021), plus a QR code linking to the EPREL European product database for digital verification.

Unlike the E-mark, the EU label ratings are self-declared by the manufacturer. The regulator relies on market surveillance rather than third-party verification. The label isn't a certification, it's a consumer-information disclosure.

Same Pattern, Different Sizes, Different Grades

An important nuance: EU Tyre Label grades are assigned per size, not per pattern. The same tyre pattern can have different fuel efficiency, wet grip and noise grades depending on which size you're looking at. Rolling-resistance coefficients and noise values vary with tyre width, profile, diameter and construction specifics, so each size is tested independently and gets its own EPREL record.

We have multiple sizes of the Hifly HF201 with EU labels, comparing them demonstrates how grades can shift across sizes of a single pattern:

Same story on the Hifly HF805 Challenger DSRT UHP line, two sizes, two separate EPREL records:

We also have the Hilo Green Plus pattern across three different sizes, each with its own EU label:

EU Label QR Code. EPREL Database Link

Since the 2021 update to the EU Tyre Label (Regulation 2020/740), every new label must carry a QR code that links directly to the tyre's listing in the EPREL (European Product Registry for Energy Labelling) database. Scanning the code brings up the tyre's full registered performance data, fuel-efficiency grade, wet-grip grade, noise class, snow and ice pictograms, hosted by the European Commission.

These QR codes are frequently mistaken for SNI Electronic Marks, but they are a completely separate regulation. EU Label QR codes link to the EPREL EU database (eprel.ec.europa.eu); SNI Electronic Marks link to the Indonesian BSN registry. Scanning the code is the easiest way to tell them apart.

EU Label Pictograms Moulded Directly Into the Sidewall

A less-common variant: some tyres have the EU Tyre Label pictograms themselves moulded directly into the rubber sidewall rather than only printed on the paper label. You'll see three stylised pictograms grouped together: a braking/fuel icon, a wet-road icon, and a noise wave icon. This visually reinforces the paper label's performance story and makes the EU compliance claim permanent, the label sticker can be lost, but the moulded pictograms stay for the life of the tyre.

M+S - Mud and Snow Marking

"M+S" (or "M&S", "M-S") is the oldest and most common winter-rated sidewall marking, found on roughly a third of the tyres we inspect. It indicates the tyre is designed for "mud and snow" service. Unlike the 3PMSF snowflake, the M+S marking has no regulated performance test: any manufacturer can apply it to any tyre they consider suitable for moderate winter or wet/muddy conditions.

The US Rubber Manufacturers Association defines an M+S tyre geometrically: void-to-rubber ratio ≥ 25%, specific tread block and groove dimensions. Compliance is self-declared, no third-party test, no batch sampling, no certificate.

M+S vs 3PMSF is the most common consumer confusion on this page. A tyre marked M+S is not a severe-snow-service winter tyre. A tyre marked with the three-peaked mountain snowflake is. Many tyres carry both stamps, but the 3PMSF is the one that actually means something.

Other Global Certification Systems

Tyre certification is a global patchwork. Below are additional national and regional systems that exist but we haven't yet documented photos of in our workshop. Sidewall stamps matching any of these are real certifications, not marketing.

Tyres With No Certifications Found

A meaningful percentage of tyres we inspect carry no regulatory certification marks at all, no E-mark, no CCC, no SNI, no BIS, no BPS, no TIS, no KC, no BSMI, no JATMA, not even AS/NZS 2230. The tyre is just a plain sidewall with brand, model, size, DOT date code and load/speed rating, nothing more. In the current NZ regulatory environment these tyres can still be legally imported, sold and fitted to a vehicle.

Below are a selection of no-cert tyres pulled from our most recent 200 inspections. For each one we've shown the DOT-side sidewall (the side where E-marks and most regulatory stamps would normally appear). Scroll each photo, there's nothing there.

There's also a production tier built specifically for no-verification markets

Not every tyre we see without certifications is premium-brand overstock. Some are from factories that made a deliberate commercial decision to skip export certifications entirely. The economic logic is simple: testing a tyre to E-mark or FMVSS costs real money. Test samples, lab fees, approval authority fees, annual compliance audits, ongoing documentation. For a factory whose target customers are in markets that don't verify certification at the border, that money is not spent. They comply with their domestic mandatory certification (CCC for China, VR for Vietnam, TIS for Thailand, SNI for Indonesia) because they have to for home-market sale, and skip everything else.

The global data shows this tier is growing fast. Vietnam has become one of the world's largest tyre exporters by volume. Cambodia's tyre exports grew 130% in a single year (2023 to 2024), going from a rounding error to a serious exporter in 24 months. Burkina Faso's tyre exports grew 565% over the same period, Togo's 800%. These growth numbers are not being driven by premium-brand boutique factories opening in West Africa. They reflect real supply chains feeding real markets that don't check paperwork at the border.

New Zealand sits squarely in that target zone. Our regulations accept a list of foreign standards, set out in full in the NZ Gap section below, but do not require any of them to actually be marked on the tyre. A factory in Cambodia, or a B-line production run from a Thai plant, or a private-label order from a lower-tier Chinese factory, can legally land its product on NZ tyre shop shelves without producing a single piece of test documentation. We aren't guessing that this happens, we have photographed it on our inspection bench (see the gallery above).

The industry's usual reassurance is "all major brands pursue major certifications, so if it's a brand you recognise it's probably fine." Two things complicate that reassurance: first, we have documented premium-brand tyres (Goodyear, Pirelli, Bridgestone, in the gallery above) with no certification markings on specific production runs, so brand familiarity alone isn't a safe proxy. Second, most budget-tier tyres sold in NZ carry brands the average consumer has never heard of before walking into a tyre shop, and those unbranded and semi-branded lines are exactly where Tier 2 and Tier 3 production shows up.

Multi-Certification: One Tyre, Multiple Markets

Some tyres are manufactured for global distribution and carry certification marks from multiple countries simultaneously. The same physical tyre can hold approval from the Netherlands (E4), China (CCC), Indonesia (SNI), India (BIS), Thailand (TIS), and the Philippines (BPS) all at once. Manufacturers pursue stacked certifications because each export market enforces its own mandatory standard.

Example 1

Michelin Primacy SUV Plus: Five Certifications on One Sidewall

Michelin Primacy SUV Plus 265/50R20, manufactured in Thailand. We documented a complete set of four matching tyres, all carrying five distinct regulatory certification marks: E2 (France), CCC (China), SNI 003261/2012 (Indonesia), TIS (Thailand), and BPS (Philippines). The sidewall also carries the XL (Extra Load) construction designation and a load & pressure spec line, neither of which is a regulatory certification, but they're useful supporting context for a tyre carrying this many approvals.

Example 2

Goodyear EfficientGrip SUV: Six Marks, Different Combination

Goodyear EfficientGrip SUV 265/50R20, manufactured in China. Also carries six moulded marks, though a different combination to the Michelin: E13 (Luxembourg), CCC (China), SNI (Indonesia), BPS (Philippines), M+S, and a rim protector rib. Luxembourg is Goodyear's European HQ which explains the rare E13 stamp, BPS is rare on any premium US-brand tyre, and the rim-protector mark is a construction feature rather than a cert. Together they show a modern OE-spec SUV tyre often carries more markings than buyers realise.

Same Pattern, Different Sizes, Different Certifications

Certification is applied per SKU, not per pattern. The manufacturer decides which national approvals to pursue for each individual size, so two sizes of the same tyre pattern can end up with completely different regulatory paperwork. This Comforser CF1000 pair is a textbook example: two sizes, both built about a year apart, same tread design, but an entirely different certification mix on each.

Size Variance

Comforser CF1000: 265/70R16 vs 265/50R20

Same tread pattern, different certifications. The 265/70R16 size carries SNI (Indonesia) and CCC (China) but has no EU tyre label and no UTQG grades. The 265/50R20 size is the opposite, EU label (D/C/72dB) and UTQG (420 A) are both moulded on, but SNI is completely absent. Both still carry E4 (Netherlands) for baseline UNECE approval. The takeaway: seeing one size of a pattern with a given cert tells you nothing about whether a different size has the same cert.

Three Certifications in a Single Frame

Sometimes the certifications are stamped close enough together that a single photograph captures multiple national approvals at once, once on a Korean mid-tier tyre, once on a budget Chinese tyre.

Same Country, Two Stamps: Capital and Lowercase E-Markings Together

Most modern E-marked tyres carry the same country code twice, once with a circled uppercase letter (R30 type approval) and once with a squared lowercase letter (R117 performance approval). Both come from the same authority. Several photos throughout this guide actually already show both stamps side-by-side, reused below as the primary visual evidence of the pattern.

How to Check Your Own Tyres

Certification marks are moulded into the tyre sidewall during manufacturing. They can't be added or removed after production.

1. Check both sidewallsCertification marks may only appear on one side of the tyre. Check both the inner and outer sidewall. You may need to turn the steering wheel fully to see the inner side on front tyres, or get underneath the vehicle for rear tyres.
2. Look near the bead areaCertification marks are typically located in the lower third of the sidewall, near the rim edge. They are often grouped together with the DOT code, size markings, load index, and speed rating. Clean off any dirt or brake dust to make the moulded text easier to read.
3. Identify the mark typeE-marks appear as a circled or squared E followed by a country number (e.g. E4, E11). CCC has a distinctive three-C logo inside an oval. SNI appears as a diamond-arrow symbol, sometimes just the text "SNI," or a short number. BIS/ISI uses a rectangular logo with a licence number starting CM/L-. BPS shows a globe with "CERTIFIED Product Quality." TIS uses a specific Thai symbol with standard numbers.
4. Check the approval numbersNext to the E-mark you may see codes like S2WR1 or S2WR2. These are UNECE R117 performance codes confirming the tyre has passed noise, wet grip, and rolling resistance testing. Use our DOT Code Decoder to find which factory made the tyre and when.
5. No marks found?If your tyre carries no certification marks at all, it hasn't been independently tested by any national authority. We have documented tyres from well-known brands, including premium manufacturers, sold in NZ with no E-mark and no CCC. We have also found sets of four identical tyres from the same brand where three carried certification marks and one didn't. The absence of marks doesn't necessarily mean the tyre is unsafe, but it means there is no third-party verification. Consider this alongside the UTQG grades and the brand's track record.

More Tools From Our Workshop

This certification guide is one of several free tools we have built for New Zealand drivers, all off the same workshop data: 1,600+ inspections, 42,000+ photographs, every mark on this page photographed off a real tyre.