17It should be recalled that, under the second paragraph of Article 265 TFEU, an action for failure to act is admissible only if the institution in question has first been called upon to act. It is settled case-law that giving the institution formal notice is an essential procedural requirement the effects of which are, first, to cause the two-month period within which the institution is required to define its position to begin to run and, second, to delimit any action that might be brought should the institution fail to define its position. Whilst there is no particular requirement as to form, the notice must be sufficiently clear and precise to enable the Commission to ascertain in specific terms the content of the decision which it is being asked to adopt and must make clear that its purpose is to compel the Commission to state its position (judgments of 3 June 1999, TF1 v Commission, T‑17/96, EU:T:1999:119, paragraph 41, and of 29 September 2011, Ryanair v Commission, T‑442/07, not published, EU:T:2011:547, paragraph 22). However, the wording of an action for failure to act and of the formal notice must not be identical (judgment of 10 March 2021, ViaSat v Commission, T‑245/17, EU:T:2021:128, paragraph 39).
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