37According to settled case-law, observance of the rights of the defence is, in all procedures initiated against a person which are liable to culminate in a measure adversely affecting that person, a fundamental principle of Community law which must be guaranteed even in the absence of any rules governing the procedure in question (see, inter alia, Case 234/84 Belgium v Commission [1986] ECR 2263, paragraph 27, and Case C-288/96 Germany v Commission [2000] ECR I-8237, paragraph 99).
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