93In any event, according to case-law, while it is important to ensure compliance with requirements of legal certainty which protect private interests, those requirements must be balanced against requirements of the principle of legality which protect public interests, and precedence must be accorded to the latter when the maintenance of irregularities would be likely to infringe the principle of equal treatment (see, to this effect, Snupat v High Authority, 42/59 and 49/59, ECR, EU:C:1961:5; Koninklijke Nederlandsche Hoogovens en Staalfabrieken v High Authority, 14/61, ECR, EU:C:1962:28; and José Martí Peix v Commission, T‑125/01, ECR, EU:T:2003:7213, paragraph 111).
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