European Truck Manufacturers’ Cartel

It was two years ago that the EU Commission found major European truck manufacturers guilty of operating a Europewide cartel between 1997-2011 with the intention to:

• Coordinate the gross list pricing of all vehicles over six tonnes
• Evolved Emission Technologies in Euros III to VI and then passed the cost of these technologies directly on to their customers

The commission fined organisations 3bn euros, but that would seem to be the beginning of the issue, rather than the end. Over 600,000 vehicles were sold under these conditions and the suggestion is that these activities boosted the collective sales by an average £20,000 per vehicle. The EU has established guilt, that is no longer an issue, it is now for the victims of the cartel to seek compensation.

Facing a compensation bill of at least £12 bn, the manufacturers are likely to ensure that the road is long and sometimes difficult and final settlement looks likely to be well (probably years) into the future.

There are two actions already before the Competitive Appeal Tribunal (CAT). In May of this year, United Kingdom Truck Claims (UKTC) launched an opt- out action on behalf of all potential stakeholders. Under this procedure, the CAT would determine the total amount of damages the defendants are required to pay to UK traders for their overall losses from 1997 to 2011, individual traders could then claim their fair share from the total fund.

This action was followed by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) who launched an opt – in appeal on 19th July 2018. This latter appeal will be on behalf of RHA members, but is open to non-members. No costs will be incurred if the action is lost, but in the event of success, a funding fee of between 5-9% will be deducted from the compensation pot.

Source / Further Reading:
https://www.rha.uk.net/policy-campaigning/truck-manufacturers-cartel