What is the situation with counterfeit tires on the Russian market

Opinions of participants in the tire industry and experts surveyed by Autonews.ru regarding the share of counterfeit tires in the Russian market differ, and, for example, the operating director of the automotive marketplace Fresh, Evgeny Zhithukhin, stated that over the past two years, the number of counterfeit and non-compliant tires has increased, which is "a direct consequence of aggressive dumping by dishonest importers, primarily from China".

According to him, counterfeiting is mainly present in the economy segment, where consumers are most sensitive to price and "often turn a blind eye to the origin of the goods". "Counterfeits are not so much specific global brands, but popular tire sizes in the cheapest segment. Scammers do not spend resources on complex counterfeiting of the Michelin or Bridgestone tread. Their main goal is to create the illusion of a high-quality product at minimal cost", he said.

Zhithukhin adds that the risk group includes primarily the most popular tire sizes, for example, 15 and 16 inches, which are in high demand among owners of budget cars. At the same time, other experts say that, in fact, counterfeiting tires is difficult.

"The brand, model, and all necessary information are applied directly to the tire sidewall at the stage of manufacture. Creating the corresponding molds and matrices requires significant investment, so the production of counterfeit tires is economically disadvantageous and extremely difficult", said Ilya Plisov, a member of the board of the Union of Auto Services of Russia.

He also says that after the introduction of the new labeling, small and medium-sized players left the market, as additional expenses were too significant, and "the opportunity to work according to informal schemes has actually disappeared".

In "Cordiant" also noted that "can't confirm the relevance of the problem of counterfeit tires for the market". "Single cases of the appearance of such tires on marketplaces do not affect the situation. We have not encountered the fact of counterfeiting products released under our brands, including Cordiant", the company said, adding that if tires are manufactured in non-factory conditions, their properties will be extremely low, from traction to strength and reliability.

"Using such tires is extremely dangerous: the car on the road will behave unpredictably, posing a threat to the driver and passengers and to other road users", the company warned.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade states that one of the illegal schemes in the tire market has become the activities of "pseudo-manufacturers", as a result of which a new verification mechanism will be introduced from July 2026.

"This mechanism provides for the verification by the operator of the labeling information system of the authenticity of the data submitted to the system by Russian manufacturers of goods, including (in established cases) by visiting the actual place of production", the ministry said, also indicating that if the verification is not passed, the operator can refuse to issue labeling codes.

The department also notes that since the beginning of the year, the sale of 937,000 tires, potentially creating a safety hazard, has been blocked in Russia. The information was confirmed by the CPRF (operator of the "Honest Sign" labeling), and it is reported that the main reason for the blocking is an attempt to sell tires with signs of counterfeiting.

The CPRF also named signs of counterfeit tire products: absence of information about the application of the labeling code on the product, as well as about its introduction into circulation; presence of information that the product with such a labeling code was previously removed from circulation; the product is blocked by a decision of a state authority; incorrect result of checking the cryptographic signature (verification code); the validity of the permit document (certificate of compliance (CC) / declaration of compliance (DC)) for the product introduced into circulation from September 1, 2025, has been terminated or recognized as invalid.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the number of blocked tires is decreasing, and in January-May 2025, the sale of 1.9 million potentially unsafe tires was prevented. At the same time, since the beginning of this year, the sale of 2 million tires has been banned due to discrepancies when checking with document registries (goods without documents, with documents with invalid statuses or not having passed verification for products).

Tire labeling was introduced in November 2020, and in November 2024, a permit regime was established. When selling, the system checks the labeling code, and if violations are detected (signs of forgery, counterfeiting, etc.), the cash register automatically blocks the sale of the product. Starting from September 2025, when introducing tires into circulation, the "Honest Sign" automatically checks the permit documents.

"Over the five years of the labeling information system, the Russian automotive tire market has undergone radical transformation: the share of illegal circulation has decreased almost fourfold - from 36.5 to 9.5%. The economic effect of legitimizing the market has resulted in additional tax revenues of 67 billion rubles", the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.