Assistant lawyer Natālija Ķīse compiled the material.
Tax
Court of Justice rules on government support and VAT disparities in the online gaming industry in Belgium
Delivered: 12 September 2024
The Court of Justice rendered a decision in which 27 Belgian gambling enterprises contested the Belgian State’s assessment of VAT on online gambling from July 2016 to May 2018. These levies came into effect after the Belgian government decided to remove the VAT exemption for online gambling, excluding lotteries.
The VAT Directive provides Member States the option to treat comparable services as immovable property, as defined by the Court of Justice
Delivered: 12 September 2024
The Court of Justice delivered a judgment regarding the extent of the discretion that Member States have to consider comparable services to be “immovable property” when they choose to apply an extended period of adjustment to such property, as specified in Article 187(1) of the VAT Directive.
Competition
The Court of Justice upholds Google’s €2.4 billion charges for abusing its dominant position in online search marketplaces
Delivered: 10 September 2024
In an appeal against the General Court’s ruling in Google and Alphabet v. Commission, which found that Google LLC and Alphabet, Inc. had abused their dominant positions in 13 national markets for general search services within the European Economic Area, the Court of Justice handed down its judgment. The disputed decision relates to a fine of over €2.4 billion levied by the Commission on Google for abusing its dominant position in online search markets by giving preference to its shopping service over rivals’ offerings.
Commission’s decision confirming Ireland’s illegal State aid to Apple is upheld by the Court of Justice
Delivered: 10 September 2024
Ireland must recover the State aid from Apple, according to the Court of Justice’s final judgment, which ordered the annulment of the EU General Court’s 2020 decision in the Apple State aid case. The CJEU states that the General Court misinterpreted the European Commission’s (EC) decision when it decided that the EC had not demonstrated to the necessary legal standard that the intellectual property licenses (and related profits) had to be attributed to the Irish branches of two Apple Group entities that do not have Irish residence.
The Commission requires Ryanair and Frankfurt-Hahn airport to reimburse incompatible German state subsidies totaling about €14 million
Concluded: 9 September 2024
According to the European Commission, three German policies supporting Ryanair and the Frankfurt-Hahn airport are not compliant with EU state aid regulations. Now, the incompatible aid, including interest, must be reimbursed to Germany. In a different ruling, the Commission determined that additional public funding initiatives for Ryanair, Haitec AG, and Frankfurt-Hahn Airport did not qualify as state aid.
Technology
Commission signed the Council of Europe Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence and human rights, democracy and the rule of law
Signed: 5 September 2024
This Convention is the first legally binding international instrument on artificial intelligence. It complies completely with both general Union law and the EU AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive AI regulation. The convention incorporates several of the main ideas of the EU AI Act and is compliant with other EU laws as well.
See also news article.
