Annex F (informative) Core undefined behavior [ub]

F.5 [dcl]: Declarations [ub.dcl]

F.5.5[ub:dcl.ref.uninitialized.reference]
Specified in: [dcl.ref]

Evaluating a reference prior to initializing that reference has undefined behavior.
[Example 1: extern int &ir1; int i2 = ir1; // undefined behavior, ir1 not yet initialized int i3 = 17; int &ir1 = i3; — end example]