Phil Schiller, Apple's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, introduces new iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus during a special event in Cupertino, California, the United States on Sept. 12, 2017. (Xinhua)

BRUSSELS, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) regulators will take Ireland to EU court over its failure to collect 13 billion euros (15.3 billion U.S. dollars) tax bill from Apple, it was announced Wednesday.

The EU's executive arm has decided to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to recover from Apple the "illegal state aid", as required by a European Commission decision, said EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is in charge of competition policy.

The European Commission ruled in August 2016 that Ireland's tax benefits to Apple were illegal under EU state aid rules, because it allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses.

The Commission asked Ireland to recover the bill by Jan. 3 this year but Ireland failed to implement the executive body's decision.

"Ireland has to recover up to 13 billion euros in illegal state aid from Apple. However, more than one year after the Commission adopted this decision, Ireland has still not recovered the money, also not in part," Vestager told a press conference.

"Member states need to make sufficient progress to restore competition. That is why we have today decided to refer Ireland to the EU Court for failing to implement our decision," Vestager added.