Article 21 Participation in tenders and contracts

Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall be open to all natural persons who are nationals of, and legal persons established in, a Member State of the Community, a country that is a beneficiary of this Regulation, a country that is a beneficiary of an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA)^f1 or a Member State of the EEA.

The Commission may, in duly substantiated cases, authorise the participation of natural persons who are nationals of, and legal persons established in, a country having traditional economic, trade or geographical links with neighbouring countries, and the use of supplies and materials of different origin.

Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall also be open to all natural persons who are nationals of, or legal persons established in, any country other than those referred to in paragraph 1, whenever reciprocal access to their external assistance has been established. Reciprocal access shall be granted whenever a country grants eligibility on equal terms to the Member States and to the recipient country concerned.

Reciprocal access to the Community’s external assistance shall be established by means of a specific decision concerning a given country or a given regional group of countries. Such a decision shall be adopted by the Commission in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 26(2) and shall be in force for a minimum period of one year.

The granting of reciprocal access to the Community's external assistance shall be based on a comparison between the Community and other donors and shall proceed at sectoral or entire country level, whether it be a donor or a recipient country. The decision to grant this reciprocity to a donor country shall be based on the transparency, consistency and proportionality of the aid provided by that donor, including its qualitative and quantitative nature. The beneficiary countries shall be consulted in the process described in this paragraph.

Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall be open to international organisations.

Experts proposed in the context of procedures for the award of contracts need not comply with the nationality rules set out above.

All supplies and materials purchased under contracts financed under this Regulation shall originate in the Community or a country eligible under this Article. The term ‘origin’ for the purpose of this Regulation is defined in the relevant Community legislation on rules of origin for customs purposes.

The Commission may, in duly substantiated exceptional cases, authorise the participation of natural persons who are nationals of, and legal persons established in, countries other than those referred to in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, or the purchase of supplies and materials of different origin from that set out in paragraph 6. Derogations may be justified on the basis of the unavailability of products and services in the markets of the countries concerned, for reasons of extreme urgency, or if the eligibility rules were to make the realisation of a project, a programme or an action impossible or exceedingly difficult.

Whenever Community funding covers an operation implemented through an international organisation, participation in the appropriate contractual procedures shall be open to all natural or legal persons who are eligible pursuant to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 as well as to all natural or legal persons who are eligible pursuant to the rules of that organisation, care being taken to ensure that equal treatment is afforded to all donors. The same rules shall apply in respect of supplies, materials and experts.

Whenever Community funding covers an operation co-financed with a Member State, with a third country, subject to reciprocity as defined in paragraph 3, or with a regional organisation, participation in the appropriate contractual procedures shall be open to all natural or legal persons who are eligible pursuant to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 as well as to all natural or legal persons who are eligible under the rules of such Member State, third country or regional organisation. The same rules shall apply in respect of supplies, materials and experts.

Where Community assistance under this Regulation is managed by a joint managing authority, as referred to in Article 10, the procurement rules shall be those laid down in the implementing rules referred to in Article 11.

Tenderers who have been awarded contracts under this Regulation shall respect core labour standards as defined in the relevant International Labour Organisation conventions.

Paragraphs 1 to 10 shall be without prejudice to the participation of categories of eligible organisations by nature or by localisation in regard to the objectives of the action.