The European Court of Justice ruled on 28 October 2020: 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.
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, gives you the opportunity to enforce your toll reimbursement claims quickly, easily and without any cost risk.
We will receive a moderate share in the proceeds only in the case of success.
Please note that the registration for the enforcement of claims is closed. The following information is therefore addressed to the companies that are already represented by Hausfeld in the enforcement of claims.
Important: The Federal Logistics and Mobility Office (Bundesamt für Logistik und Mobilität, "BALM") only reimburses tolls upon presentation of toll statements from Toll Collect GmbH and/or an EETS provider.
Please permanently save all of your company’s toll statements as well as any other invoices for toll payments and immediately request any missing toll statements from your toll provider. Toll Collect now only issues duplicate copies of missing toll statements for billing periods that are no more than nine years in the past. In our experience, EETS providers also issue duplicate invoices only for a limited time period.
NEW: Further toll reimbursement claims filed for the period until 22 December 2025
Hausfeld has submitted toll reimbursement claims on behalf of its clients for the period until 22 December 2025. Therefore, potential reimbursement claims for this period are pending with the BALM. This also suspends the statute of limitations for these reimbursement claims.
The existing financing agreement with eClaim also covers toll reimbursement claims from 2023 onwards. The period prior to that, dating back to the introduction of the toll, is also covered.
At present, there are no court rulings stating that tolls levied from Oktober 2021 or from 2023 onwards are (partially) unlawful. This applies in particular to the route cost appraisal 2023 and to the CO₂-related component of the toll introduced in December 2023.
We will inform you as soon as there is solid evidence for further toll reimbursement. As before, eClaim will cover the costs if Hausfeld pursues further toll reimbursement claims on behalf of your company from 1 October 2021 and/or from 2023 onwards, so that Hausfeld’s clients will bear no costs or risks.
Model lawsuits for reimbursement due to unlawfully levied truck tolls are ongoing (period from 1 January 2005 to 30 September 2021)
In February 2024, Hausfeld filed three model lawsuits against the Federal Republic of Germany with the Administrative Court of Cologne in order to enforce claims for reimbursement due to unlawfully levied truck tolls.
The lawsuits are based on agreements that Hausfeld signed in summer 2023 after intensive negotiations with the responsible BALM. Accordingly, the legally binding decisions on the three model lawsuits apply to all companies represented by Hausfeld.
Within the model lawsuits, the extent to which the plaintiffs and Hausfeld´s other clients are entitled to toll reimbursement and interest claims for the period from 1 January 2005 to 30 September 2021 will be finally decided in court.
The court has not scheduled an oral hearing yet. Therefore, it is not yet possible to predict the outcome of the model lawsuits.
We will keep you updated on further developments regarding the lawsuits.
Background of the lawsuits:
The ECJ has ruled that the inclusion of traffic police costs in the German truck toll in 2010 and 2011 violated the European infrastructure costs directive and that the toll was illegal in this respect (case C-321/19).
In 2021, the German legislative authority reacted to the ECJ's decision and reduced the toll retroactively with regard to traffic police costs for the period from the decision on 28 October 2020 to 30 September 2021 ("statutory tariff reduction"). This results in a partial toll reimbursement claim, which Hausfeld is enforcing since 2022 and independently of the model lawsuits.
For the period before the statutory tariff reduction, the legislative authority invokes "protection of legitimate expectations" (Vertrauensschutz) and has so far refused to reimburse the police costs charged with the toll. From 1 October 2021, new toll rates apply that no longer include traffic police costs.
Hausfeld examined the German truck toll and the underlying route cost appraisals in detail with the support of a renowned economic expert specializing in transport and found that the toll has been calculated unlawfully overall since its introduction on 1 January 2005. In addition, the statutory tariff reduction for the period from 28 October 2020 to 30 September 2021 is too low according to Hausfeld's examination. Finally, Hausfeld believes that interest should be paid on all reimbursement claims.
Against this background, at the end of 2020 Hausfeld on behalf of its clients already raised comprehensive toll reimbursement claims plus interest against the BALM, which far exceed the traffic police costs.
The reimbursement claims amount to about EUR 7.5 billion for the period from January 2017 to the end of September 2021 alone, which corresponds to around 25% of the German toll volume. Even if only the share of the toll based on traffic police costs were to be reimbursed, the reimbursement volume would still be over EUR 330 million.
Statutory tariff reduction: toll reimbursement almost complete
Since 2022, the BALM pays out toll reimbursements to Hausfeld's clients due to the statutory tariff reduction; these reimbursements, net of eClaim's share in the proceeds, are forwarded to the respective clients within a few business days.
Hausfeld has developed a digital process to transmit clients’ processed data and toll statements to the BALM as quickly as possible, which is essential for receiving toll reimbursement due to the tariff reduction.
In the meantime, nearly all clients have been reimbursed. Hausfeld is in ongoing contact with the BALM to finalize payments for the remaining clients as quickly as possible.