A French law firm is set to launch a class-action lawsuit against the country’s motorway operators, over what it claims is the ‘potential illegality’ of tolls at motorway péages.
In France, all autoroutes (motorways or highways) are operated by private companies, and drivers are expected to pay tolls in order to drive on them – unless you’re in Brittany, which has no tolls.
Criticism of the “lucrative” contracts held by the operators – French groups Vinci and Eiffage (APRR-Area), and the Spanish firm Abertis (Sanef, SAPN) – is nothing new.
France’s Cour des comptes (Court of Auditors) and the Autorité de la concurrence (Competition Authority) have, in the past, criticised the ‘excessive profits’ of the motorway concession companies.
Successive opposition lawmakers have repeatedly called for the lowering of toll rates, terminating contracts, and shortening the duration of concessions.
Now, law firm Leguevaques is preparing to challenge toll rates before the France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, filing what it says is a “class-action lawsuit in the public interest”, against what they say is the “potential illegality of the framework governing toll pricing and the lack of transparency regarding costs covered by tolls”.
“Several official institutions have highlighted a troubling disparity between the price paid by users and the service provided,” attorney Christophe Leguevaques, told Le Parisien.
“A Senate report in 2020 criticised ‘exceptional profitability’, and then, in 2021, a report by the Inspection générale des finances (IGF) noted ‘profitability far exceeding expectations’.
“These two reports did not serve as a basis for action by the government — which handed over management of the highways in 2006 — to terminate the contracts or attempt to renegotiate them.”
The lawsuit highlighted the, “potential illegality of the framework governing toll pricing and the lack of transparency regarding the costs actually covered by tolls, which neither users nor regulatory authorities can fully verify”.
Lawyers at the firm hope to bring together several thousand people to join the lawsuit, including members of the public. They expect the case to go before the Conseil d’Etat in the autumn, with a decision to follow within six to 24 months.
Motorway operators point to reports from the Autorité de régulation des transports in 2020 and 2022, which rejected suggestions of ‘superprofits’ in the highway sector.
Representatives of France’s highway networks also point out that the government-set toll increase in 2026 “was lower than inflation”, as it had been in 2025.
To join the lawsuit, private individuals — who use motorways regularly and subscribe to electronic toll payment systems — are being asked to pay €36 into a legal warchest.
Businesses can join the suit, too, for €720. If the court rules in its favour, the firm expects that payouts could be between 30 percent and 58 percent of the sums paid in tolls over the past five years.
For more information, log on to the firm’s MyLeo platform.
In 2015 a class-action lawsuit against toll rates was proposed by former Minister of the Environment Corinne Lepage, but did not go to court after the law firm pulled out.
