45As regards the retroactive effect of the directive at issue outside the criminal sphere, it should be recalled that, as the Court has already held on several occasions (see in particular the judgment in Case C-337/88 Società agricola fattoria alimentare [1990] ECR I-1, paragraph 13), although in general the principle of legal certainty precludes a Community measure from taking effect from a point in time before its publication, it may exceptionally be otherwise where the purpose to be achieved so demands and where the legitimate expectations of those concerned are duly respected. In order to reply to the question raised, it is therefore necessary to determine whether those criteria were satisfied in the present case.
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