The State was ordered Thursday to pay several tens of millions of euros in compensation to three electronic toll collection companies which suffered damage after the abandonment of the heavy goods vehicle ecotax in 2014, indicated the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise in a press release.
These three companies - Total Marketing Services, Eurotoll and DKV Euro Services - were supposed to equip heavy goods vehicles subject to the ecotax with electronic toll boxes.
The ecotax was finally abandoned by the government in 2014 in the face of the “Red Bonnets” rebellion unleashed in Brittany.
To collect this new tax, the government mandated the company Ecomouv', responsible for installing and operating the gantries on the roads.
This company itself had concluded contracts with several electronic toll companies.
In 2018, "the court considered that the State had committed a fault by terminating the contract concluded with Ecomouv'", recalled the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise.
“Abnormal and special harm”
In another decision, on appeal this time, justice estimated in 2021 that the electronic toll collection companies had “suffered abnormal and special damage”, in particular due to the purchase of equipment to equip the trucks, ultimately never used .
The administrative court therefore ordered the State to compensate Total Marketing Services to the amount of 15.8 million euros.
DKV Euro Services will receive 13.6 million euros for its part.
Eurotoll's compensation was not specified in the judgment.
The company Ecomouv' had obtained net compensation of 403 million euros from the State in 2015 as a result of the termination of the contract which mandated it to implement and collect the ecotax.