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2 Legisprudence 1 (2008)

handle is hein.journals/legisp2 and id is 1 raw text is: LEGAL CERTAINTY, NON-RETROACTIVITY AND PERIODS OF LIMITATION IN EU LAW Juha Raitio* Abstract The article begins with a cursory description of the specific fields where legal certainty is at stake in the case law of the European Court of Justice. Especially the non-retroactivity of EC legislation and the protection of legitimate expectations are relevant in this respect. The conditions for the retroactivity of EC legislation have been analysed on the basis of the case law. An important part of the study is a short description concerning the circumstances in which the ECJ has exceptionally approved retroactive effects of EC legislation. The final chapter concentrates on the prescribed procedural time limits, indefinitely delayed actions, sanctions based on EU law and recovery of charges from the perspective of legal certainty. Keywords Legal certainty, predictability, retroactivity, protection of legitimate expectations, periods of limitation, sanctions, recovery of charges A. INTRODUCTION What does legal certainty mean? This question might be as broad and difficult as the question concerning the meaning of democracy, or the rule of law. The principle of legal certainty cannot be expressed by definitions alone, because it is an underlying general principle of law. Nevertheless, various elements of legal certainty have been analysed in the legal literature from a theoretical perspective.1 In Aarnio's and Peczenik's theoretical works2 as well as in some * Juha Raitio, Professor of European Law, University of Helsinki. P.O. Box 4, 00014 University of Helsinki, e-mail: juha.raitio@helsinki.fi. 1 F Bydlinski, Juristische Methodenlehre und Rechtsbegriff(Wien, Springer Verlag, 1982), 325- 329. He proposes four elements of legal certainty, namely Rechtsklarheit, Sicherung der Rechtsdurchsetzung, Stabilitat des Rechts, Zugdnglichkeit des Rechts.

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