ECLI:EU:T:2003:72

«(Fisheries – Community financial aid – Reduction of aid – Limitation – Reasonable period – Principle of proportionality)» Summary of the Judgment 1.. Fisheries – Common structural policy – Community financial assistance – Beneficiaries of financial assistance required to provide information and to act in good faith 2.. Own resources of the European Communities – Legislation relating to protection of the Community's financial interests – Irregularity – Definition (Council Regulation No 2988/95, Arts 1, 3(1) and 5) 3.. Community law – Principles – Protection of legitimate expectations – Legal certainty – Protection refused to person committing a manifest infringement of the rules in force – Community financial assistance – Passage of periods of inaction by the Commission – Primacy of the principle of legality over that of legal certainty justified by the need to maintain equal treatment for recipients of aid (Council Regulation No 4028/86) JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Third Chamber)13 March 2003 (1) ((Fisheries – Community financial aid – Reduction of aid – Limitation – Reasonable period – Principle of proportionality)) applicant, v defendant, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (Third Chamber), having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 28 November 2002, gives the following On those grounds, THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Third Chamber) Lenaerts Azizi Jaeger H. Jung K. Lenaerts Registrar President 1 – Language of the case: Spanish.