The European Union’s next highest court dominated Wednesday that the Fee had not established that the enterprise had obtained unlawful point out aid from Ireland by favorable tax agreements.

The European Fee — Europe’s top antitrust authority — said in 2016 that the Irish governing administration experienced granted Apple (AAPL) an unlawful edge by supporting the Apple iphone maker preserve its tax monthly bill artificially small for more than 20 many years.

But Eire failed to want the dollars. The little state became the European foundation for corporations these types of as Apple, Google (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) because it has one of the least expensive company tax fees in Europe. So it teamed up with Apple to combat the Commission.

“We’re proud to be the most significant taxpayer in the entire world as we know the critical role tax payments perform in culture. Apple has paid much more than $100 billion in company income taxes all around the planet in the final ten years and tens of billions extra in other taxes,” the spokesperson included.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has beforehand claimed the ruling had “no foundation in simple fact or in law,” contacting it “evident focusing on of Apple.”

The Irish government also welcomed the final decision, expressing it had under no circumstances provided unique treatment method to Apple.

The courtroom ruling is a main blow to the Fee, which has sought to crack down on what it considers unfair tax discounts in Europe. The Commission could enchantment the final decision to Europe’s best courtroom.

Margrethe Vestager, the Commission’s best antitrust formal, claimed she was diligently learning the judgment just before determining on subsequent techniques. But she vowed that the Commission would carry on to aggressively pursue what it considers “illegal condition aid.”

“At the same time, condition help enforcement wants to go hand in hand with a alter in company philosophies and the proper laws to tackle loopholes and ensure transparency. We have designed a whole lot of progress by now at nationwide, European and world-wide concentrations, and we need to have to proceed to work collectively to thrive,” Vestager claimed in a assertion.

— James Frater contributed to this short article.