325As has been acknowledged by case-law, the legality of a Community measure must be assessed on the basis of the elements of fact and of law existing at the time when the measure was adopted (Joined Cases 15/76 and 16/76 France v Commission [1979] ECR 321, paragraphs 7 and 8, and Joined Cases T-177/94 and T-377/94Altmann and Others v Commission [1996] ECR II-2041, paragraph 119). Consequently, elements postdating the adoption of the Community measure cannot be taken into account in assessing the legality of that measure (see, to that effect, Case T-229/94Deutsche Bahn v Commission [1997] ECR II-1689, paragraph 102, and the case-law cited in that paragraph). Indeed, the legality of a decision must, in principle, be examined on the basis of the elements of fact and of law mentioned by the parties during the administrative procedure and/or set out in that decision. Otherwise, the parallelism between the (earlier) administrative procedure and the (subsequent) judicial review proceedings, which is based on identity of facts and law, would be compromised.