Starbucks Corp. attacked “manifest errors” by European Unioncompetition watchdogs as details of the coffee chain's appeal of a30 million euro ($32 million) tax repayment order were made publicfor the first time.

In a preview of Apple Inc.'s 13 billion euro court fight withBrussels regulators, Starbucks criticized its EU order, sayingofficials made several “errors of assessment,” according to asummary of its appeal published this week.

The Seattle-based company is asking the EU General Court inLuxembourg to annul last year's EU decision accusing it of gettingan unfair advantage from a tax arrangement with the Netherlands inviolation of the bloc's state aid rules.

The EU regulator violated those rules “by incorrectlyestablishing that the” advance pricing agreement “conferred anadvantage, thereby committing various manifest errors of fact andassessment, failing to conduct a diligent and impartial examinationand giving an inadequate statement of reasons,” Starbucks said,according to the summary.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has prioritizedthe fight against special tax treatment for selected companies,arguing it amounts to illegal state aid. Starbucks and a FiatChrysler Automobiles NV unit were first in the firing line, beingordered to pay back taxes they allegedly avoided thanks toagreements with the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

While her team continues its quest to weed out unlawful dealsfrom a list of more than 1,000 tax rulings, Vestager in Augustslapped Apple with a record multibillion euro bill, saying Irelandgranted unfair deals that reduced the company's effective corporatetax rate to as little as 0.005 percent in 2014. Ireland has alreadyappealed the decision and Apple said it would follow.

In the Starbucks case, the commission said a Dutch unit paidmillions of euros to a U.K.-based arm of the company that isn'ttaxed in Britain, in exchange for a technique to roast coffeebeans. Exaggerated tax-deductible royalty payments for thistechnique may have allowed Starbucks to unfairly lower its Dutchtaxes.

The Netherlands already has an appeal pending against the EU'sdecisions on Starbucks, and the case may be among the first to cometo a court hearing.

“The commission will defend its decision in court,” spokesmanRicardo Cardoso said by email. Starbucks didn't immediately respondto a request for comment.

The EU is poised to publish details of its decision in the Applecase in the coming days and the iPhone maker is also expected tofile its appeal before the end of the year.

Apple and EU competition watchdogs on Dec. 2 clashed over theissue on a public stage for the first time. An Apple lawyer said ata Copenhagen conference that the EU's August decision is “seriouslyflawed” and implies Apple products such as its best-sellingsmartphones are designed in the Irish city of Cork, rather than theU.S. An EU official hit back, saying the company was creating a“very nice tax story.”

Bloomberg News

Copyright 2018 Bloomberg. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten,or redistributed.