29With regard to the second complaint, based on infringement of the right to be heard, it should be stressed that the Court has consistently held (see the judgments of 10 July 1986 in Cases 234/84 and 40/85 Kingdom of Belgium v Commission [1986] ECR 2263 and 2321, and the judgment of 11 November 1987 in Case 259/85 French Republic v Commission [1987] ECR 4393) that observance of the right to be heard is, in all proceedings initiated against a person which are liable to culminate in a measure adversely affecting that person, a fundamental principle of Community law which must be guaranteed even in the absence of any rules governing the procedure in question.
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