Commission v. Ireland and Others (Case C-465/20 P): Opinion of Advocate General Pitruzzella

On November 9, 2023, Advocate General Pitruzzella delivered his Opinion, proposing that the Court of Justice uphold the appeal brought by the European Commission (“Commission”) against the General Court judgment of July 15, 2020, which annulled the Commission decision of August 30, 2016, finding that the Republic of Ireland (“Ireland”) had granted €13 billion in undue tax benefits to Apple Inc (“Apple”).

The Commission had found that Ireland granted a selective advantage to Apple through two individual tax decisions (“tax rulings”) adopted in 1991 and 2007, addressed to the Irish-based subsidiaries, Apple Sales International (“ASI”), and Apple Operations Europe (“AOE”) (together, “the Irish branches”).  As AG Pitruzzella pointed out, this case is part of a “series of somewhat extensive cases concerning the application of Article 107(1) TFEU to tax rulings.”

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