LUXEMBOURG: Europe's second-top court on Wednesday rejected an EU order to iPhone maker Apple to pay 13 billion euros ($14.78 billion) in Irish back taxes.

"The General Court annuls the contested decision because the Commission did not succeed in showing to the requisite legal standard that there was an advantage for the purposes of Article 107(1) TFEU1," judges said, referring to EU competition rules.

The 2016 ruling and the record sum is part of the European Commission's crackdown on sweetheart tax deals between multinationals and some EU countries.