51According to settled case-law, respect for the rights of the defence is, in all proceedings 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 specific rules. That principle requires that the undertaking concerned be afforded the opportunity during the administrative procedure to make known in an effective manner its views on the truth and relevance of the facts, objections and circumstances put forward by the Commission (judgments of 10 July 1986 in Belgium v Commission, 234/84, ECR, EU:C:1986:302, paragraph 27; 9 July 2008 in Alitalia v Commission, T‑301/01, ECR, EU:T:2008:262, paragraph 169; 15 December 2009 in EDF v Commission, T‑156/04, ECR, EU:T:2009:505, paragraph 101; and 12 May 2011 in Région Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Communauté d’Agglomération du Douaisis v Commission, T‑267/08 and T‑279/08, ECR, EU:T:2011:209, paragraph 70).