01254 828 300 
“This is a significant claim, expected to exceed £1 billion, arising from a prolonged breach of competition law that affected around 600,000 UK truck purchasers between 1997 and 2011.”
Mark Molyneux, Partner, Addleshaw GoddardBackground
The RHA’s claim for compensation is based on the European Commission’s decision in July 2016 to fine European truck manufacturers MAN, Daimler/Mercedes, Iveco, Volvo/Renault and DAF, €2.93 billion after they admitted operating the Trucks Cartel. The Commission found that the Trucks Cartel operated between 17 January 1997 and 18 January 2011 (the “Cartel Period”) and related to trucks of six tonnes and over.
The illegal activities included:
- fixing gross list prices;
- agreeing the costs that truck purchasers would be charged for emissions technologies (Euro III, IV, V and VI); and
- delaying the introduction of those emissions technologies.
Opt-In Collective Proceedings
The RHA is using the collective proceedings regime before the CAT. The regime was introduced relatively recently in October 2015 by the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to cater for group actions in competition law. This regime allows an industry body, such as the RHA, to make an application to become class representative on behalf of businesses or consumers affected by competition law violations. The core notion of collective proceedings is that they group together similar claims that raise common issues (i.e., the same, similar, or related issues of fact or law).
As a not-for-profit organisation and the only trade association dedicated to road haulage in the UK, the RHA believes it is well placed to be appointed class representative and expects the CAT to hear its application later this year. If the CAT were to grant the RHA’s application, this will be the first time an application to use the new collective claim regime will have been successful.
The claim has been issued against DAF, Iveco, and MAN, although the claim covers all makes of trucks, including trucks manufactured by companies that were not part of the Trucks Cartel.
As part of the application, the RHA has proposed a class of persons entitled to opt in to the legal action. The class comprises any person who between 17 January 1997 and the date of a notice to be published later during the proposed collective proceedings purchased or leased for road haulage operations (both hire and reward and own-account) new or pre-owned trucks either (a) registered in the UK or (b) registered in EEA Member States other than the UK provided the person belongs to a group of companies which also purchased or leased such trucks registered in the United Kingdom.
As the RHA has proposed to bring collective proceedings on an opt-in basis, road haulage operators wishing to join the legal action are required to sign up to the claim. This can be done by visiting the RHA’s website at www.truckcartelleaglaction.com. The RHA currently has over 3,850 operators signed up to the claim and a further 740 operators who have registered interest and are in the process of signing up. It is anticipated that the number of claimants signing up will increase significantly over the coming months.
The RHA has secured third-party litigation funding on competitive terms so that there is no cost to operators who sign up. If the claim is successful, the funders will take a fee from the compensation awarded to compensate them for the risk of providing the capital investment. The RHA has also taken out litigation insurance to protect both itself and operators signing up to the claim in case the claim or aspects of it are unsuccessful.
