Irish hauliers bring claim against truck manufacturers

Dozens of damages claims brought by Irish hauliers against Europe’s biggest truck manufacturers who allegedly engaged in anti-competitive practices, have come before the High Court.

The claims arise out a determination by the European Commission last July which found that five major truck manufacturers — Man, Volvo Renault, Daimler, Iveco and Daf — broke EU competition laws. The commission found that the truck makers had colluded for 14 years on truck pricing and on passing on the costs of compliance with stricter emission rules to their customers.

The commission said its investigation, which began in 2011, found the manufacturers had co-ordinated prices at a gross level for medium and heavy trucks in the the European Economic Area and had passed on the costs of emission technologies required to comply with strict European emission standards to buyers. Record fines totalling €2.93bn were handed out to the companies, except to Man as it had revealed the existence of the cartel to the commission.