"This is a great victory for European citizens" as well as "a victory for fair play and tax justice," said Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, visibly emotional, during a press conference in Brussels.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), the final court of appeal, ruled that Apple must repay €13 billion in back taxes to Ireland for having benefited from undue tax advantages, which were deemed illegal state aid.
The ruling forced Apple to announce an exceptional charge of up to $10 billion (€9 billion). A manageable burden for a company that posted a net profit of $97 billion (€88 billion) last year.
In a separate ruling, the Luxembourg-based court upheld a €2.4 billion fine against Google for anti-competitive practices in the price comparison market.
Both companies immediately expressed "disappointment" in separate statements.
The Apple case dates back to 2016 when Brussels ordered the maker of the famous iPhone to repay €13 billion to Ireland.
The sum corresponds to the profits derived from a favorable tax treatment granted to the company from 2003 to 2014, in this country where Apple had repatriated all its revenues generated in Europe (as well as in Africa, the Middle East, and India).
"Tax havens":
According to the European Commission, Apple's Irish subsidiary paid a minuscule effective tax rate on its European profits, "ranging from 1% in 2003 to 0.005% in 2014."
However, in 2020, the EU General Court overturned the European Commission's decision in a resounding blow to Ms. Vestager.
The Commission had appealed the decision to the ECJ.
A new twist occurred in November 2023 when Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella issued a non-binding opinion, generally followed by judges, challenging Apple's victory.
He suggested that the court annul the ruling and refer the case back to the EU General Court for a new ruling on the merits.
However, the court did not follow this opinion. The ECJ "rules definitively on the dispute and confirms the European Commission's 2016 decision: Ireland granted Apple illegal aid, which the state is required to recover," it explained.
Ireland will "respect" this decision, the government in Dublin announced.
Apple has always maintained that it did not receive any preferential treatment.
"Our revenue was already subject to U.S. taxes," the company responded. "This case has never been about the amount of taxes we pay, but about the government to which we are required to pay them."
Google forced to change its practices:
In the Google case, the judges upheld a €2.4 billion fine imposed in 2017 on the Mountain View-based company for abusing its dominant market position in online search.
It is the second-largest financial penalty ever imposed by the EU in an antitrust case.
The court ruled that Google had indeed "abused its dominant position by favoring its own product comparison service," Google Shopping.
"We are disappointed by this decision. We made changes in 2017 to comply with the European Commission's ruling," responded the search engine giant.
Google was accused of making its competitors in Google Shopping almost invisible to consumers for years.
The EU General Court had already ruled in favor of the Commission in a first judgment issued in November 2021. However, Google had filed a new appeal, seeking to have the fine annulled.
The case began in 2010 with the opening of an investigation following complaints from competitors.
This case is one of several major disputes opened by Brussels against Google, which has been fined over €8 billion in total for various competition violations.
The group is also under scrutiny by regulators in the United States. Since Monday, it has faced its second major trial in less than a year, as the U.S. government accuses it of stifling competition in online advertising.
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