Apple on tax and Facebook on privacy face key EU court rulings             

The EU's second highest court will rule in an appeal by Apple and Ireland that Apple owes €13bn in back taxes.

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

First up on Wednesday will be a judgment on the EU’s decision to slap a €13bn 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.