41In the second place, as regards the question whether such an interpretation of Article 63 TFEU, provided in a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU, entails for the referring court an obligation to disapply the national legislation at issue, it should be recalled that, in accordance with the settled case-law of the Court, the interpretation which, in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred on it by Article 267 TFEU, the Court gives of a rule of EU law, clarifies and defines, where necessary, the meaning and scope of that rule as it must be or ought to have been understood and applied from the time it came into force (judgment of 7 August 2018, Hochtief, C‑300/17, EU:C:2018:635, paragraph 55). In other words, a preliminary ruling does not create or alter the law, but is purely declaratory (judgment of 28 January 2015, Starjakob, C‑417/13, EU:C:2015:38, paragraph 63).
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