Incorrect calculation of the truck toll

Refund of overpaid tolls
Registration

German truck toll is illegal according to ECJ decision –
protect your claims from being time barred at the end of 2020!

The European Court of Justice ruled on 28 October 2020 that the level of the German truck toll violates European law (read more). According to the ruling, the Federal Republic of Germany has taken the costs of traffic police into account when calculating the toll, even though this is not permitted under European law. Instead, only the costs for infrastructure should have been included in the calculation of the toll.

All payers of the German toll are therefore entitled to a reimbursement from the Federal Republic of Germany of at least the portion of the toll paid until September 2021 that was based on the costs of traffic police. According to current estimates, the reimbursement claim amounts to at least 4% of the toll paid.

eClaim, in cooperation with the law firm Hausfeld Rechtsanwälte LLP, offers you the opportunity to prevent your reimbursement claims from becoming time-barred and to enforce them quickly, easily and without any cost risk. 

The enforcement of your claims is free of charge for you! We bear the costs. We will receive a moderate share in the proceeds only in the case of success.

Please note that the registration for the enforecement of claims is closed.

New: Toll refunds resulting from statutory toll rates reduction
In 2021, the German legislator reacted to the above-mentioned decision of the European Court of Justice and aligned the German truck toll rates to the European law, so that as of 1 October 2021 new, lower toll rates apply.

Furthermore, the toll rates were retrospectively lowered for the period from 28 October 2020 to 30 September 2021 (so-called "tariff reduction"). This results in a partial toll reimbursement claim for the period of the tariff reduction, which your Hausfeld attorneys will also enforce for you.

For this purpose, Hausfeld has developed a digital process to transmit your processed data and toll statements to the BAG as quickly as possible, which are mandatory for receiving toll reimbursements due to the tariff reduction. Currently, the BAG pays out the toll reimbursements for Hausfeld's clients resulting from the tariff reduction, which are forwarded to the respective clients within a few working days minus eClaim's share in the proceeds.

Please note that due to limited human and technical resources, the BAG can only do the calculations and payouts of the toll reimbursement claims successively. Therefore, there will be unavoidable delays. It will take a few more months for the payouts to be completed.

We inform you immediately as soon as the BAG has processed your toll reimbursement claims. Please understand that we are currently unable to predict when exactly the BAG will payout your reimbursement amount.

Delays can be avoided by sending complete and accurate data or documents. Therefore, we ask you to carefully check your data and requests for information that you have received from us and answer as soon as possible in case you notice discrepancies.

IMPORTANT:
Please do not submit your own toll reimbursement application to the BAG based on the tariff reduction under any circumstances. In the past, we have field comprehensive reimbursement claims to the BAG on behalf of your company for unlawfully charged truck tolls to protect your rights in the best possible way. These claims also include the period of the tariff reduction.

Another application for reimbursement by your company would jeopardize claim enforcement and would not expedite the payment process.

Model lawsuits to clarify toll reimbursement and interest claims
Please note that the above-mentioned reimbursements due to the tariff reduction are only a part of your toll reimbursement claims, which your lawyers at Hausfeld have asserted on your behalf with comprehensive applications for reimbursement to the BAG. Your lawyers will of course continue to pursue the reimbursement claims that are beyond the tariff reduction together with interest on your behalf. This applies to the period starting from the introduction of the truck toll in Germany on 1 January 2005 as well as the period of the tariff reduction. Together with a traffic expert, your lawyers have established that the tariff reduction defined by the legislator is not sufficient and that there are partly significantly higher reimbursement claims. 

To clarify the legal situation comprehensively, your lawyers and the BAG intend to conduct several model lawsuits. We will keep you informed on this.

Interest claims
In its ruling of 30 November 2021 (Case No. 9 A 118/16), the Higher Administrative Court Münster decided that reimbursements for unlawfully levied truck tolls must bear interest at five percentage points above the respective prime rate (“Basiszinssatz”) from the date of payment of the toll until reimbursement. 

Your lawyers at Hausfeld will therefore enforce interest claims on your behalf in addition to the comprehensive toll reimbursement claims.