27It is not necessary to examine more closely the applicant's argument that the Court's judgment in Adams departed from previous case-law. It is clear from the analysis set out above that where a plea based on the alleged unlawfulness of the competition notice which was not challenged in due time concerns the statement of reasons for the contested individual decision, the Court has held that such a plea is admissible. In those specific conditions, the Court has therefore not departed from the approach which may be discerned in the case-law prior to Adams and which is set out in particular in Alfieri (cited above), in which it held that ‘having regard to the close connection between the different measures comprising the recruitment procedure, it must be accepted that in an action contesting the latest steps in such a procedure the applicant may contest the legality of earlier steps which are closely linked to them’ (second paragraph of the grounds of judgment), which was relied on by the applicant. It is clear from the judgment in Adams, construed in the light of the subsequent judgments of the Court cited above, that it is only where there is no close connection between the statement of reasons for the challenged decision and the plea at issue that the latter must be declared inadmissible, in accordance with the mandatory rules governing time-limits for bringing actions, which may not be derogated from in such a case as this without offending against the principle of legal certainty.