BRUSSELS - The General Court of the European Union annulled the decision of the EU Commission on Irish tax rulings in favor of Apple. "The Court of First Instance annulled the decision in question because the Commission failed to demonstrate in a legally appropriate manner the existence of an anti-competitive advantage within the meaning of Article 107", reads the judgment.
According to the Court, "the Commission was wrong to declare that Apple had a selective advantage and therefore, by extension, State aid". Brussels "erroneously concluded" that the Irish tax authorities "gave Apple a selective advantage" by allowing them not to charge income from sales outside America to their Irish branches.
For the Court "the Commission should have shown that the income represented the value of the assets actually carried out by the Irish branches". Furthermore, "the Commission failed to demonstrate methodological errors in the disputed tax ruling that would have led to a reduction in Apple's profits in Ireland". "Although the Tribunal regrets the incomplete and sometimes inconsistent nature of the disputed tax ruling, the defects identified by the Commission are not sufficient on their own to prove the existence of an advantage," writes the Tribunal.