22In response to the argument raised by the Portuguese Government, alleging the need for a decision of the Tribunal Administrativo Supremo annulling the abovementioned Decision No 430/96-XIII, the Commission again points out that, according to settled case-law, a Member State may not plead provisions, practices or circumstances existing in its internal legal system in order to justify a failure to comply with its obligations under Community law (Case C-74/89 Commission v Belgium [1990] ECR I-491, summary publication).
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