21In its reply, the applicant disputes the Commission's contention that the Court of First Instance should not restrict itself to a literal interpretation of Article 15(2) of Regulation No 17 but should also resort to historical and teleological methods of interpretation. It is settled case-law that the literal interpretation method should be used where the text of a provision is clear and unambiguous and clearly covers the situation in question (Case C-245/97 Germany v Commission [2000] ECR I-11261, paragraph 72, Case C-133/00 Bowden and Others [2001] ECR I-7031, paragraphs 38 to 44; Opinion of Advocate General Mayras in Case 67/79 Fellinger [1980] ECR 535, at 547). In the present case, according to the applicant, the Commission itself accepts that Article 15(2) of Regulation No 17 is clear when it states in its defence that ‘[l]ogically, the reference to the preceding business year would seem to refer to the year preceding the adoption of the decision imposing a fine’.
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