40In that connection, it must be pointed out that, in general, limitation periods fulfil the function of ensuring legal certainty (Case 41/69 ACF Chemiefarma v Commission [1970] ECR 661, paragraph 19). Such a function would not be fully fulfilled, as the Advocate General points out in paragraph 82 et seq. of his Opinion, if the limitation period referred to in Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2988/95 could be interrupted by any act relating to a general check by the national authorities which bore no relation to any suspicion concerning the existence of irregularities regarding sufficiently precisely circumscribed transactions.
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