Brussels, 23/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has requested further information from Ireland in the framework of the investigation into potential state aid awarded to Apple through a tax ruling, the Irish daily newspaper Irish Times reported on Sunday 22 November.
The Irish finance minister, Michael Noonan, recently said that he expected a decision from the Commission before Christmas (see EUROPE 11428), but the Irish Times contends that this new development is likely to delay the investigation of the Brussels-based institution. The decision, therefore, is more likely to come in 2016.
In June 2014, the Commission opened a number of investigations into tax rulings awarded to Apple in Ireland, Fiat in Luxembourg and Starbucks in the Netherlands. This was followed by an investigation into a tax ruling granted to Amazon in Luxembourg. The Commission has already announced that it considers the Starbucks and Fiat cases constitute illegal state aid. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)