43Consequently, that principle is also applicable where the breach at issue stems from a decision of a court adjudicating at last instance. The Court has, in fact, already held that the judiciary plays an essential role in the protection of the rights derived by individuals from rules of EU law and that a court ruling at last instance constitutes, by definition, the last instance before which those individuals can enforce the rights conferred on them by those rules. The Court inferred from this that the full effectiveness of those rules would be called in question and the protection of those rights would be weakened if individuals were precluded from being able, under certain conditions, to obtain reparation in respect the harm caused to them by a breach of EU law attributable to a decision of a national court adjudicating at last instance (see, to that effect, judgments of 30 September 2003, Köbler, C‑224/01, EU:C:2003:513, paragraphs 32 to 36 and 59; of 13 June 2006, Traghetti del Mediterraneo, C‑173/03, EU:C:2006:391, paragraph 31; and of 28 July 2016, Tomášová, C‑168/15, EU:C:2016:602, paragraph 20).
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