The Italian association Confartigianato Trasporti announced on 4 September 2026 that the first 18 member companies had completed the procedure to join the agreement with Libra-Finanziamento del Contenzioso and had received the related bank transfer, while another 29 were awaiting payments expected in the following days. These sums are not compensation awarded by a court or direct payments from truck manufacturers, but immediate payments obtained by companies that have assigned to Libra FdC their potential compensation claim linked to the European cartel among industrial vehicle manufacturers. The mechanism, governed by the agreement signed in mid-June between Confartigianato Trasporti and Libra FdC, provides for a free preliminary fleet assessment, followed by an offer for the immediate assignment of the claim potentially held against the manufacturers that took part in the cartel. If the road haulier accepts this option, it is paid in less than 30 days, at no cost, regardless of any subsequent civil court ruling, because Libra FdC assumes both the risk and the potential return of the later recovery action against the manufacturers.
Companies belonging to Confartigianato Trasporti that have not previously submitted claims or joined a European collective action may request an assessment for new industrial vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of more than six tonnes, including those purchased under leasing arrangements between 1997 and 2011, paid for at a net price of at least €50,000 and owned for at least four years. Companies that have ceased trading, gone bankrupt or are subject to insolvency proceedings may also be eligible for compensation. The agreement provides for a lump sum of €700 per vehicle where suitable historical documentation exists, falling to €500 if the truck is otherwise eligible but lacks the documents from the period, while an individual assessment is envisaged for other situations. Actual eligibility remains subject to Libra’s verification.
The assigned claim stems from the cartel among industrial vehicle manufacturers established by the European Commission, which, in its settlement decision of 19 July 2016, found that Man, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco and Daf had infringed European Union antitrust rules by coordinating gross prices for medium and heavy trucks and the timing of the introduction of emissions-reduction technologies between 1997 and 2011, imposing fines totalling €2.93bn. Man obtained full immunity for being the first to reveal the existence of the cartel, but it is not exempt from civil damages claims, while Scania, which did not join the settlement, was fined separately in September 2017 for €880.5m. The penalty was upheld by the General Court of the European Union in 2022 and, definitively, by the Court of Justice in a judgment of 1 February 2024, which dismissed its final appeal.
The infringement established at European level does not automatically translate into an amount owed to each purchaser, but it does facilitate follow-on damages actions. The higher price obtained through the cartel, the link with individual purchases and any interest still have to be proved or quantified case by case in civil proceedings. An initial Italian numerical reference came from the Court of Milan, which, in a first-instance judgment filed on 11 January 2026, ordered Iveco to compensate 14 Italian companies, recognising an 8% overcharge on the purchase price of 141 trucks bought during the cartel period and a further 4% for six vehicles purchased immediately afterwards, as a residual effect of the distortion. The case, brought in 2017 by Cna Fita as part of a collective action joined by around 3,000 companies, resulted in average compensation of about €13,000 per vehicle, including interest and monetary revaluation. The ruling is still a first-instance judgment and may be appealed.
The comparison between the two channels clarifies the nature of the operation with Libra FdC: on a truck purchased new for a net price of €100,000, an 8% assessment would amount to €8,000 before interest and monetary revaluation, while the lump-sum compensation under the agreement remains fixed at €700 or €500. The difference chiefly reflects the value of immediate liquidity, the transfer of litigation risk and the company’s decision not to pursue directly a legal action with uncertain timing.
P.R.
