31As regards the possibility that a person who has referred a complaint to the Ombudsman may put in issue the European Union’s liability because of the way in which that complaint has been handled, the Court of Justice has already stated that it is appropriate to refer to its settled case-law, according to which a right to reparation is afforded where three conditions are met: the rule of law infringed must be intended to confer rights on individuals; the breach must be sufficiently serious; and there must be a direct causal link between the breach of the obligation on the author of the act and the damage sustained by the injured party. As to the second condition, the Court has, in the same context, also noted that the decisive test for finding that a breach of EU law is sufficiently serious is whether the EU institution or body concerned manifestly and gravely disregarded the limits on its discretion (judgment of 23 March 2004, Ombudsman v Lamberts, C‑234/02 P, EU:C:2004:174, paragraph 49 and the case-law cited).
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