CFE ECJ Task Force: Opinion Statement ECJ-TF 3/2020 on the General Court Decisions of 15 July 2020 in Ireland v. Commission and Apple v. Commission (Joined Cases T-778/16 and T-892/16) on State Aid Granted under Tax Rulings Fixing the Attribution of Profits to Permanent Establishments in Ireland

Eric Kemmeren, Alfredo Prats, Werner Haslehner, Volker Heydt, Georg Kofler, Michael Lang, João Nogueira, Pasquale Pistone, Stella Raventos-Calvo, Emmanuel de la Blétière, Isabelle Richelle, Alexander Rust, Rupert Shiers

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleProfessional

Abstract

The General Court decisions in Ireland v. Commission and Apple v. Commission (Joined Cases T-778/16 and T-892/16), [1.] given on 15 July 2020, follow the Court’s earlier decisions in the Starbucks (Joined Cases C-760/15 and T-636/16) [2.] and Fiat (Joined Cases T-755/15 and T-759/15) [3.] cases concerning the legality of EU Commission decisions considering certain transfer pricing rulings granted by Member States to multinational enterprises to be prohibited State aid.

The General Court reached a balanced verdict: while agreeing with the Commission on the fundamental point regarding the applicability of the arm’s length principle to Member State tax rulings, it concluded that the Commission had failed to apply that principle in a manner that proved a selective advantage had been granted by the Irish revenue authorities. The Commission has lodged an appeal against the General Court’s decision before the Court of Justice of the European Union (Case C-465/20 P).

This statement focusses on questions of law addressed by the General Court rather than going into detail on the factual/transfer pricing (TP) issues. It focusses, in particular, on the extent to which the Apple case provides clarifications or reveals changes in approach relative to the General Court’s earlier decisions in Starbucks and Fiat .
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)109
Number of pages116
JournalEuropean Taxation
Volume61
Issue number2/3
Publication statusPublished - 2021

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