The EU Court of Justice holds that a statement of objections could not normally be challenged because it was simply a preliminary step in the formal procedure (IBM)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT 11 NOVEMBER 1981 [1] International Business Machines Corporation ν Commission of the European Communities Case 60/81* 1. In order to ascertain whether measures are acts within the meaning of Article 173 it is necessary to look to their substance, as the form in which they are cast is, in principle, immaterial in this respect. Measures producing binding legal effects of such a kind as to affect the applicant's interests by