48It is perfectly lawful to make use of that criterion for the purpose of finding that there has been a breach of the ‘reasonable time’ principle. At paragraph 49 of the judgment in Baustahlgewebe v Commission, the Court of Justice held, when evaluating the duration of the proceedings before the Court of First Instance, that an indication that the length of the proceedings affected their outcome may result in the judgment under appeal being set aside. The same approach is to be found in the reasoning followed by the Court of First Instance where it considered that the excessive duration of the procedure before the Commission must entail the annulment of the contested decision if TU's rights of defence have been compromised, in which case there is necessarily a possible effect on the outcome of the procedure.
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