Apple, Facebook Court Spats Test EU Role as Global Rulemaker (2)

European Union judges in Luxembourg are set to sign off for the summer with two blockbuster rulings involving Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. that could shape the EU’s growing leverage over the rules of global commerce.

First up on July 15 will be a judgment on the EU’s decision to slap a 13 billion-euro ($14.8 billion) Irish back-tax bill on the iPhone maker, in the biggest test to date of a wider EU crackdown on allegedly unfair fiscal pacts between governments and multinational companies.

The following day, the EU Court of Justice, the bloc’s highest tribunal, will issue a binding ...