European Commission to appeal judgement on Apple state aid case

The Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, issued a statement announcing that the European Commission (EC) will appeal the decision of the General Court of the EU from July 2020. This judgement annulled the EC decision from August 2016 that Apple owed Ireland €13 billion in unpaid taxes because of an alleged tax arrangement that had amounted to illegal state aid.

As reasons for the appeal, Vestager stated: ‘The General Court judgment raises important legal issues that are of relevance to the Commission in its application of State aid rules to tax planning cases. The Commission also respectfully considers that in its judgment the General Court has made a number of errors of law‘.

Other parties to the case – Ireland and Apple – have already appealed the judgement. The appeals will be decided by the European Court of Justice.