Judgment_paragraph 67 · Criminal proceedings against Silvio Berlusconi, Sergio Adelchi and Marcello Dell'Utri and Others (C-387/02, C-391/02, C-403/02)

67It must be pointed out in this regard that, according to settled case-law, fundamental rights form an integral part of the general principles of law, the observance of which the Court ensures. For that purpose, the Court draws inspiration from the constitutional traditions common to the Member States and from the guidelines supplied by international treaties for the protection of human rights on which the Member States have collaborated or to which they are signatories (see, inter alia, Case C-112/00 Schmidberger [2003] ECR I-5659, paragraph 71 and the case-law there cited, and Joined Cases C-20/00 and C-64/00 Booker Aquaculture and Hydro Seafood [2003] ECR I-7411, paragraph 65 and the case-law there cited).