The ECJ confirms: Dumper trucks affected by truck cartel

09 March 2023

Following a question referred by the Spanish Court to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the ECJ has confirmed that specialised trucks, such as dumper trucks, are covered by the European Commission’s (EC) 2016 decision on the EU truck cartel.

In August 2022, the ECJ ruled that the EC’s truck cartel decision included specialised vehicles such as refuse collection trucks on the basis that the EC had stated that its decision covered medium and heavy trucks and only expressly excluded military vehicles so specialised vehicles, such as refuse collection trucks, would be covered.

However, prior to this, in September 2020, a Spanish court had ruled that an articulated dumper truck that was not intended for use on roads and was instead intended for use for industrial works in uneven terrain, was not covered by the EC’s truck cartel decision. The Claimant appealed this decision, arguing that the dumper truck should have been included, so the Court hearing the appeal asked the ECJ for guidance in April 2021.

The ECJ relied on its previous decision regarding refuse collection vehicles and confirmed that the EC decision also extended to dumper trucks given there was nothing in the EC’s decision to suggest that dumper trucks would not be covered given that they would fall within the definition of a heavy truck and were not expressly excluded, unlike military vehicles.

This further confirms the RHA’s view that specialised trucks would have been affected by the truck cartel and therefore operators that purchased or leased vehicles such as dumper trucks can include them within the claim.

The RHA has been leading the charge against the Truck Cartel to obtain compensation for road transport operators who purchased or leased trucks from 1997 onwards. Following a violation of EU competition rules, truck manufacturers were fined a total of £3.4 billion in 2016.  As a result, the RHA has been working with Backhouse Jones to get operators compensation for buying or leasing HGVs with artificially inflated prices. The case represents an action on behalf of all truck operators whether they are RHA members or not. It is free to join the case and there is no financial risk. Operators can still join the claim and can find out more information here.

Please contact Steven Meyerhoff or James Lomax from the Cartel team on 01254 828300 if you would like to discuss.