43In that regard, it should be noted that, according to consistent case-law, a Member State may not apply a criminal penalty for failure to complete an administrative formality where such completion has been refused or rendered impossible by the Member State concerned, in infringement of EU law (Placanica and Others, paragraph 69). Given that the question referred is intended precisely to establish whether the conditions which were imposed for the award of a licence under the national legislation, and which led Stanley to decline to participate in the tendering procedures at issue in the main proceedings, were contrary to EU law, the relevance of that question for the purposes of deciding the cases before the referring court cannot be called into question.
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