On May 20, 2025, Professor Henk Vording, Global Chair Professor at Peking University Law School and Professor at Leiden University Law School, delivered a lecture entitled “Tax Rulings and State Aid: Insights from the Apple Case” at Peking University Law School. The lecture was part of the Global Chair Lecture Series and was moderated by Zhang Zhiyong, Tenured Associate Professor at Peking University Law School.

In his lecture, Professor Vording examined the Apple state aid case under EU law, focusing on the relationship between tax rulings, transfer pricing, and state aid rules. He explained the basic framework of EU competition law and state aid control, particularly the application of Article 107 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), and discussed how national tax measures may constitute unlawful state aid when they confer selective advantages on specific undertakings.

Professor Vording further introduced the factual background of the Apple case and outlined the positions of the European Commission, the General Court, and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), with particular attention to the allocation of profits between Apple’s Irish subsidiaries and their permanent establishments. He noted that under current legal and regulatory frameworks, similar arrangements are unlikely to recur, given changes in Irish tax law and developments such as the BEPS Action Plan.

The lecture provided participants with a clearer understanding of the interaction between national tax sovereignty and EU state aid control, as well as the implications of the Apple case for multinational enterprises’ tax planning.

Translated by: Ma Zihan

Edited by: Shi Xiaoyu