The EU General Court this morning annulled the 2016 decision by which the European Commission ordered Ireland to recover 13 billion in state aid from Apple. At issue was the fact that DG Competition had not justified how Apple’s branches in Ireland had effectively controlled the group’s intellectual property licenses outside the United States, even though the Commission had taken account of the income from these licenses in adopting its decision. The Court’s decision was based on the fact that Apple’s branches in Ireland had effectively controlled the group’s intellectual property licenses outside the United States, even though the Commission had taken account of the income from these licenses in adopting its decision. It was a landmark decision, and its annulment no less so: the General Court of the EU today overturned the European Commission’s decision of August 30, 2016. With this decision, the European Commission had considered that Ireland had applied an advantageous tax rate to Apple, and more specifically to the Apple Operations International and Apple Operations Europe structures, and should recover €13 billion in uncollected taxes. Under European law, the application of advantageous measures to a structure constitutes prohibited state aid. The Court of First Instance confirmed this, ruling that the fact that the measures in question were fiscal did not in principle prevent…
