Apple is among a group of US tech companies who filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation on Wednesday. The complaint is over European tariffs on three categories of technology products, including flat-panel displays and printers.
The taxes are as high as 14-percent in some cases, making US exports less competitive in the EU.
The tech companies are charging the EU with violating the 1996 WTO agreement that was put in place to eliminate taxes on many technology components such as flat-panel displays. But the EU argues that flat panel displays are used on DVD players and therefore are exempt from the 1996 agreement.
The EU further claims that it has the right to charge duties on other pieces of technology equipment, such as cable boxes that access the Internet, because those pieces of technology were conceived after the 1996 agreement.