1.Rules of contests shall lay down the following:
(a)the conditions for participation, which shall at least:
specify the eligibility criteria;
specify the arrangements and final date for the registration of participants, if required, and for the submission of entries, under the conditions set out in paragraph 2;
provide for exclusion of participants which are in one of the situations referred to in Article 106(1) and Articles 107, 108 and 109 of the Financial Regulation;
provide for the sole liability of participants in case of claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest;
provide for acceptance by the winners of checks and audits by the Commission, OLAF and the Court of Auditors and of the publicity obligations as specified in the rules of the contest;
state that Union law is the law which applies to the contest, complemented, where necessary, by national law as specified in the rules of contest;
specify the competent court or arbitration tribunal to hear disputes;
state that financial or administrative penalties, or both, may be imposed on participants who have made false declarations, or committed irregularities or fraud, in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 145 and in proportion to the value of the prizes in question;
(b)the award criteria, which shall be such as to make possible to assess the quality of the entries with regard to the objectives pursued and the expected results and to determine objectively whether entries qualify as the winners;
(c)the amount of the prize or prizes;
(d)the arrangements for the payment of prizes to the winners after their award.
For the purposes of point (a)(i) of the first subparagraph, beneficiaries of Union grants shall be eligible, unless stated otherwise in the rules of contest.
For the purposes of point (a)(vi) of the first subparagraph, derogation may be made in the case of participation of international organisations.
2.The authorising officer responsible shall choose means of communication which are non-discriminatory in nature for the submission of entries and which have no effect of restricting the access of participants to the contest.
The means of communication chosen shall be such as to ensure that the following conditions are satisfied:
(a)each entry contains all the information required for its evaluation;
(b)the integrity of data is preserved;
(c)the confidentiality of entries is preserved;
(d)the protection of personal data in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 is ensured.
3.Rules of contests may set the conditions for cancelling the contest, in particular where its objectives cannot be fulfilled or where a legal or natural person who does not comply with the conditions for participation would qualify as the winner.
4.Rules of contests shall be published on the internet site of the Union institutions. In addition to the publication on the internet site, rules of contests may also be published by any other appropriate means, including the Official Journal of the European Union, where it is necessary to provide additional publicity among potential participants. They may be published as from the adoption of the financing decision referred to in Article 84 of the Financial Regulation, including during the year preceding budget implementation. Any modification of the content of the rules of contests shall be also subject to publication under the same conditions.