Google loses appeal against EU trade ruling worth €2.4 billion, bloc also wins appeal against Apple state aid ruling

Google has lost yet again in its bid to overturn a 2017 European Commission antitrust decision. The bloc said its comparison shopping service broke competition rules — fining Google’s parent company Alphabet a then-record €2.42 billion (about $2.7 billion at current exchange rates) and ordering changes to the way the service works.

Google appealed the decision, and in November 2021, the General Court of the European Union largely dismissed the action. It confirmed that Google’s preference for its own shopping service in general search results was anticompetitive, harmed rival comparison shopping services, and upheld the Commission’s fine. However, the Court found that the Commission had failed to demonstrate that Google’s conduct was likely to have anticompetitive effects on the general search market as a whole — and therefore annulled that part of the finding.

Google has appealed the EU’s decision for a second time, filing a petition with the EU’s highest court, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), which on Tuesday issued another ruling that the search giant won’t like.

The CJEU agreed with the Court of First Instance’s analysis. “(In) light of the characteristics of the market and the specific circumstances of the case, Google’s conduct was discriminatory and fell outside the scope of competition on the merits,” the court wrote in a press release.

Contacted for a response, Google spokesman Rory O’Donoghue emailed a statement from the company expressing disappointment with the ruling. “We are disappointed with the Court’s decision. This ruling relates to a very specific set of facts. We made changes in 2017 to comply with the European Commission’s decision. Our approach worked effectively for over seven years, generating billions of clicks for over 800 comparison shopping services.”

This could mean the end of the road for Google in appealing the Shopping decision, as the company can only challenge the CJEU decision on legal grounds.

The tech giant has filed several other appeals against additional Commission antitrust decisions. In September 2022, it lost another major appeal when the General Court of the European Union largely confirmed a €4.34 billion antitrust fine imposed on the bloc over the way the tech giant operates its Android mobile platform.

CJEU: Apple owes $15 billion in Irish taxes and fees

In separate CJEU news, the court issued another decision in favor of the Commission on Tuesday. This one concerns Apple because it relates to the bloc’s 2016 ruling that Apple benefited from illegal tax breaks in Ireland between 1991 and 2014 and should pay billions more in taxes. By September 2018, the iPhone maker had to pay $15 billion in back taxes and penalties to the EU. But in July 2020, Apple (and Ireland) won an appeal when the Court of First Instance overturned the EU decision.

The Commission appealed the decision and on Tuesday the CJEU overturned the judgment of the Court of First Instance, ruling instead that Ireland had granted unlawful aid to Apple, which the country must recover.

Apple and Ireland can appeal the CJEU decision solely on points of law.

Asked for comment on the state aid ruling, Apple spokesman Tom Parker sent TechCrunch a statement in which the company wrote: “This case was never about how much tax we pay, but which government we owe it to. We always pay all the tax we owe, regardless of where we operate, and there has never been a special agreement. Apple prides itself on being an engine of growth and innovation in Europe and around the world, and has consistently been one of the world’s largest taxpayers. The European Commission is attempting to change the rules retroactively and ignore the fact that our income was already subject to tax in the U.S. under the requirements of international tax law. We are disappointed with today’s decision, as the Court of First Instance previously reviewed the facts and categorically invalidated this case.”

The Commission’s competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, is due to hold a press conference on both decisions this evening, so the Commission’s press office has refrained from commenting.