The European Court of Justice has confirmed there will be an opinion by the Advocate General on the Apple case on 9 November.
AG opinions come ahead of a full judgment.
The opinion will be on the European Commission's appeal against the court’s decision in 2019 to overturn the original case in 2016 in which the Commission accused Ireland of selectively favouring Apple through tax arrangements that amounted to illegal state aid.
The Commission lodged an appeal in 2020 arguing that the General Court of the ECJ had made errors in EU law in overturning the original case.
The court in 2019 said the Commission had not met the required legal standard in making its case that Ireland had granted selective and unfair advantage to Apple in two tax arrangements in 1991 and 2007.
In May of this year Apple, Ireland and the European Commission put forward their arguments in an eagerly watched hearing.
The European Commission initially alleged that Apple owed the Irish exchequer €13.1 billion in unpaid taxes.
Following the original commission ruling the money was paid over by Apple in 2018 into an escrow or temporary third-party holding account.
The Advocate General’s opinion is not binding on the court, but in an estimated 80% of cases it is reflected in the final judgement.
The opinion will be closely watched given that the EU’s competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who championed the case against Apple, is currently locked in a race against the Spanish finance minister Nadia Caliño to be the next head of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
An opinion which upholds the court’s rejection of the Commission’s case could dent Ms Vestager’s chances of securing the post.
