46As the Court has held in its case-law concerning actions for annulment, the legality of a measure must be assessed on the basis of the factual and legal situation which existed at the time when it was adopted (judgment in Joined Cases 15/76 and 16/76 France v Commission [1979] ECR 321, paragraph 7). By analogy, the assessment of the validity of a measure which the Court is called upon to undertake on a reference for a preliminary ruling must normally be based on the situation which existed at the time that measure was adopted.
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