Judgment_paragraph 99 · International Management Group (IMG) v European Commission (C-619/20 P)

99In order to determine, in a given case, whether the contested act is intended to produce binding legal effects, it is necessary, in the first place and as is apparent from the settled case-law of the Court, to examine the substance of the act and to assess its effects in the light of objective criteria, such as the content of the act in question, taking into account, as appropriate, the context in which it was adopted and the powers of the EU institution, body, office or agency which adopted it. Those powers should not be understood in the abstract, but should be regarded as factors that inform the specific analysis of the content of the act in question, which is central and indispensable (judgment of 21 January 2021, Germany v Esso Raffinage, C‑471/18 P, EU:C:2021:48, paragraph 64 and the case-law cited).