Advocate General Nils Wahl of the European Court of Justice [official website] issued an opinion [text, PDF] on Thursday in favor of Intel in the dispute over a €1.06 billion EU antitrust fine imposed for anti-competitive behavior. Wahl questioned whether the fine received for abuse of Intel’s dominant position, namely in giving rebates to customers and certain deals made with Lenovo, had really harmed competition. While the opinion given by Wahl is not binding on the court, it is suggested that the General Court’s decision to dismiss Intel’s appeal in regards to the fine imposed by the European Commission should be set aside and the question referred back to the General Court to examine all the circumstances of the case to properly determine the actual or potential effect of Intel’s conduct on competition within the EU internal market. The ECJ will consider the opinion and decide in the coming months.

The European Commission, the executive of the EU, has taken action against many large companies operating in the European market. In August the European Commission ruled [JURIST report] that Ireland may recover up to €13 billion from Apple [corporate website] after the company benefited from undue tax breaks. The commission ruled the tax breaks were illegal based on EU law because the tax benefit meant that Apple paid less taxes to operate in the country than other businesses, resulting in an unfair economic advantage. In April the Commission opened a probe [JURIST report] into the international business practices of Google concerning the tech giant’s relationship with other Android developers, questioning whether Google’s practice of requiring mobile phone producers to pre-load Google applications on new devices could hinder innovation and might violate international antitrust law.