Apple (AAPL) has been dealt a blow in a European court case after a judge said ꦐa prior favorable ruling should be "set aside," due to errors made by a European Union (EU) tribunal.

An advisor to Europe's highest court said the tribunal made mistakes when ruling in Apple's favor during the 13 billion ($14 billion) tax case. The European Commission said in 2016 that the tech giant was benefiting from Irish taxation over the course of two decades, which saw its tax burden reduced to as low as 0.005% of profit in 2004. The ruling related to Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe, two fully-owned subsidiaries of Apple Inc. based in Ireland.

The EU General Court took Apple's side in 2020, arguing that regulators had not proven that the company had obtained an unfair advantage. EU Court of Justice (CJEU) Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella has now asked the court's decision be "set aside," and the case reconsidered.

Pitruzzella said the General Court committed a number of legal errors and did not "assess correctly the substance and consequences" of those errors which "vitiated the tax rulings." His opinion is not binding and the court is🤡 expected to come out with its 𒉰decision next year.

“The General Court’s ruling was very clear that Apple received no selective advantage and no State aid, and we believe that should be upheld," Apple said in a statement to the AP.

And Irish authorities reiterated that they did not offer🍒 favorablꦆe tax treatment to Apple.

"It has always been, and remains, Ireland's position that the correct amount of Irish tax was paid and that Ireland provided no state aid to Apple," Irish Finance Minister Michael McGrath said in a statement.

The case against Apple is one of many brought against multinational companies operating in European nations as part of a crackdown by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager. The regulator has already lost cases against Amazon (AMZN) and Starbucks (SBUX) but it has increased scrutiny over future deals between nations and corporations.