BGL Partner Hausfeld Reaches Agreement with BALM Regarding Toll Refunds

The Federal Association of Goods Transport, Logistics and Disposal (BGL) e.V. from Frankfurt am Main informs: In order to efficiently enforce truck toll refund claims within the framework of the association solution – BGL/eClaim/Hausfeld – and to avoid burdening the administrative courts with thousands of individual lawsuits, BGL’s cooperation partner Hausfeld has successfully agreed with the Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM) to conduct model proceedings. Corresponding model procedural agreements were signed in June 2023.

(Berlin) These contracts stipulate that Hausfeld will conduct three model proceedings to comprehensively examine the legality of the truck toll levied since its introduction on January 1, 2005. The results of these proceedings will apply to all of Hausfeld’s more than 15,000 clients across Europe (including approximately 7,900 German companies).

The advantages arising from the model procedural agreement:
– A quick clarification of the legal situation for the affected companies is ensured, without each company having to initiate a lawsuit on its own.
– Without the model procedural agreements, the administrative courts would have been paralyzed for years by thousands of individual lawsuits.

Refund Volume Exceeds 330 Million Euros

According to calculations by BGL’s cooperation partner Hausfeld, the refund volume alone for the portion of the toll based on traffic police costs amounts to over 330 million euros.

BGL Board Spokesman Prof. Dr. Dirk Engelhardt says: “The signed model procedural agreements within the framework of the association solution – BGL/eClaim/Hausfeld – for the realization of truck toll refund claims removes another hurdle to legal enforcement. BGL and its cooperation partners aim for a straightforward compensation for the affected toll payers for the unjustly collected truck toll, with interest as required by EU law.”

Background:

• On October 28, 2020, the ECJ ruled that the consideration of traffic police costs in the truck toll in the years 2010 and 2011 was unlawful, as the costs of the traffic police cannot be counted among the allocable infrastructure costs.
• The Federal Association of Goods Transport, Logistics and Disposal (BGL) e.V. recommended its member companies to assert their claims and informed them about corresponding enforcement solutions.
• Together with Hausfeld and eClaim, BGL offered affected companies a nationwide solution to assert their refund claims for overpaid truck tolls against BALM.

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