Judgment_paragraph 35 · Degussa AG v Commission of the European Communities (T-279/02)

35As a preliminary point, the applicant recalls that the principle that penalties must have a proper legal basis is enshrined in Article 7(1) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (‘the ECHR’) which provides that ‘[no] heavier penalty [shall] be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the criminal offence was committed’. It adds that that same principle (nulla poena sine lege) is also enshrined in Article 49(1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union proclaimed at Nice on 7 December 2000 (OJ C 364, p. 1) (‘the Charter’) and forms an integral part of the constitutional traditions of the Member States (see, for example, Article 103(2) of the German Basic Law). According to the interpretation of the European Court of Human Rights, both the principle of non-retroactivity and the principle that penalties must have a proper legal basis stem from that principle (see, inter alia, Eur. Court HR, S.W. v. the United Kingdom, judgment of 22 November 1995, Series A no. 335-B, § 35, and Joined Cases C-74/95 and C-129/95 X [1996] ECR I-6609, paragraph 25). According to the case-law of the Court of Justice, the principle that penalties must have a legal basis stems from the principle of legal certainty, which is recognised as a general principle of Community law (Joined Cases 212/80 to 217/80 Salumi and Others [1981] ECR 2735, paragraph 10, and Case 70/83 Kloppenburg [1984] ECR 1075, paragraph 11) and requires inter alia that Community legislation be clear and foreseeable by individuals, and that certainty and foreseeability are requirements which must be observed all the more strictly in the case of rules liable to entail financial consequences in order that those concerned may know precisely the extent of the obligations which it imposes on them (see Case C-30/89 Commission v France [1990] ECR I-691, paragraph 23, and the case-law cited).