LUXEMBOURG - An adviser to Europe's top court on Thursday said judges should back a 13-billion-euro ($14 billion) tax order issued by EU competition regulators to Apple seven years ago.

The European Commission in its 2016 decision said the amount related to Irish back taxes which the iPhone maker should pay. A lower tribunal had upheld Apple's challenge.

"The judgment of the General Court on 'tax rulings' adopted by Ireland in relation to Apple should be set aside," Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella at the EU Court of Justice (CJEU) said in a non-binding opinion.

The case is C-465/20 P Commission v Ireland and Others.

  - Reuters