Judgment_paragraph 24 · Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Spain (C-83/99)

24Moreover, the principle of the protection of legitimate expectations, which is the corollary of the principle of legal certainty, is generally relied upon by individuals (economic operators) in a situation where they have legitimate expectations created by the public authorities, and cannot be relied on by a Government in order to avoid the consequences of a decision of the Court declaring a Community provision invalid (Joined Cases C-177/99 and C-181/99 Ampafrance and Sanofi [2000] ECR I-7013, paragraph 67).