Judgment_paragraph 50 · Atlanta AG and others v Commission of the European Communities and Council of the European Union (C-104/97 P)

50The appellant goes on to claim that the Court of First Instance erred in law in dismissing the plea of breach of this principle on the ground that, in the absence of ‘specific assurances’ from the administration, no one could claim a breach of the principle (paragraph 57 of the contested judgment). In its view, the Court of Justice has never upheld such a restrictive interpretation of this principle and the Court of First Instance had until then accepted a requirement of ‘specific assurances’ only in relation to officials. In relation to other persons it had held ‘reasonable expectations’ to be sufficient (see, in particular, Case T-20/91 Holtbecker v Commission [1992] ECR II-2599, paragraph 53).