42In that context, according to well-established case-law, it is incumbent on the Member States, by virtue of the obligation of general diligence laid down in Article 4(3) TEU, such as it specified by the relevant EU regulations, to recover promptly the sums due by way of the additional levy. With the passage of time, division and recovery of the additional levy is likely to become complicated or impossible for reasons such as the fact that undertakings may have ceased trading or accounting documents may have been lost (see, to that effect, judgments of 11 October 1990, Italy v Commission, C‑34/89, EU:C:1990:353, paragraph 12, and of 21 January 1999, Germany v Commission, C‑54/95, EU:C:1999:11, paragraph 177).
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