1.Where the criterion for award is that of the most economically advantageous tender, contracting authorities may authorise tenderers to submit variants.
2.Contracting authorities shall indicate in the contract notice whether or not they authorise variants: variants shall not be authorised without this indication.
3.Contracting authorities authorising variants shall state in the contract documents the minimum requirements to be met by the variants and any specific requirements for their presentation.
4.Only variants meeting the minimum requirements laid down by these contracting authorities shall be taken into consideration.
In procedures for awarding public supply or service contracts, contracting authorities which have authorised variants may not reject a variant on the sole ground that it would, if successful, lead to either a service contract rather than a public supply contract or a supply contract rather than a public service contract.