In a landmark decision, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has imposed record fines on technology giants Google and Apple. The fines, totalling more than €15 billion, mark a new stage in the EU’s fight against anti-competitive practices and abusive tax optimisation.
For a decade, the European Commission had been targeting Google for favouring its own price comparison service, Google Shopping, to the detriment of its competitors. This practice was deemed anti-competitive and resulted in a fine of €2.4 billion. Despite the changes made by Google to comply with the initial decision, the CJEU upheld the penalty, underlining the abuse of a dominant position by the American giant.
For its part, Apple was ordered to repay €13 billion to Ireland for having benefited from illegal tax advantages. Between 2003 and 2014, the Cupertino-based company benefited from a particularly favourable tax regime in Ireland, enabling it to evade much of its tax on profits generated in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India. The CJEU ruled that these advantages constituted illegal State aid, confirming the European Commission’s initial decision.
These rulings have far-reaching implications for the technology sector and for the European Union:
The condemnations of Google and Apple mark a turning point in the relationship between the public authorities and the tech giants. The EU has made it clear that it wants to put an end to anti-competitive practices and abusive tax optimisation. These decisions should encourage technology companies to behave more responsibly and play by the rules.
