Judgment_paragraph 105 · Aguy Clement Georgias and Others v Council of the European Union and European Commission (T-168/12)

105Since the applicants plead an infringement of the first applicant’s rights of defence in the context of regular review of the measures at issue, it must be recalled that, according 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 EU law which must be guaranteed even in the absence of any rules governing the procedure in question (see Case 234/84 Belgium v Commission [1986] ECR 2263, paragraph 27, and Case C-344/05 P Commission v De Bry [2006] ECR I-10915, paragraph 37). That principle requires that the person concerned must have been afforded the opportunity effectively to make known his views on any information against him which might have been taken into account in the measure to be adopted (Commission v De Bry, paragraph 38).