The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the court of last resort, ruled on Tuesday, September 10, in two cases with serious financial implications for Google and Apple. In highly anticipated rulings, it upheld a €2.4 billion fine imposed on Google in 2017 by the European Commission for anti-competitive practices and questioned a €13 billion tax refund granted to Apple in Ireland.
As far as Google is concerned, this is the second most serious financial penalty ever imposed by the EU in an antitrust case, for having, according to the court, “abused its dominant position by promoting its own product comparison service”The affair began in 2010 with the opening of an investigation by Brussels following complaints from competitors. The Mountain View company was accused of having favoured Google Shopping price comparison on its search engine by making its competitors virtually invisible to consumers. It was forced to modify the display of search results on its comparison site to comply with European requirements.
Questioned by the large Californian group, the CJEU first ruled in favour of the Commission, in a judgment issued in November 2021. Google had filed a new appeal, demanding the annulment of the fine. In vain.
This case is one of the main lawsuits brought by Brussels against Google, which holds the record for the two largest fines ever imposed by the European executive for anti-competitive practices. The €2.4 billion corresponding to Google Shopping represented a record amount at the time of its implementation. It was surpassed in 2018 by another fine of €4.3 billion that sanctioned an abuse of a dominant position of the Android operating system for mobile phones. In total, the European Commission has fined Google more than €8 billion for various competition infringements.
Apple benefited from “illegal aid”
On Tuesday 10 September, the European Court of Justice also ruled definitively in favour of the European Commission against Apple, in a case dating back to 2016. The American company was accused of having repatriated to Ireland, between 2003 and 2014, all the revenue generated in Europe (as well as in Africa, the Middle East and India), because it benefited from favourable tax treatment there thanks to an agreement with the Dublin authorities. The group thus avoided almost all the taxes it would have had to pay during this period, i.e. around 13 billion euros, according to calculations by the Commission. An advantage that constitutes illegal state aid for Brussels, since it comes at the expense of other companies subject to less favourable conditions.
The EU General Court initially annulled the decision of the European executive in 2020, which was a resounding setback for the Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, who was responsible for the case. But the Commission appealed to the CJEU. The latter eventually annulled the first ruling of 2020, considering that “ Ireland granted Apple illegal aid that the state must recover »Apple will therefore have to return the 13 billion euros to Ireland, as initially decided by Brussels.
