57It is admittedly easier for an operator to determine the limitation period applicable when that period is established by the national legislature in a provision specifically applicable to the field concerned. Nevertheless, where the national legislature did not adopt a specific provision applicable to a field such as that of repayment of export refunds that have been wrongly received to the detriment of the European Union budget, the principle of legal certainty does not preclude, in principle, the application of a limitation period of a general nature that is laid down in a provision of civil law and exceeds the four-year period provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 3(1) of Regulation No 2988/95 (see, to that effect, judgment in Ze Fu Fleischhandel and Vion Trading, EU:C:2011:282, paragraph 33).
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