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1. Rules of contests shall:

(a) specify the eligibility criteria;

(b) specify the arrangements and the final date for the registration of applicants, if required, and for the submission of applications;

(c) specify the exclusion criteria as set out in Article 138 and the grounds for rejection set out in Article 143;

(d) provide for the sole liability of the applicant in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest;

(e) provide for acceptance by the winners of the obligations referred to in Article 128 and of the publicity obligations as specified in the rules of the contest;

(f) specify the award criteria, which shall be such as to make possible to assess the quality of the applications with regard to the objectives pursued and the expected results and to determine objectively whether applications are successful;

(g) specify the amount or type of the prize or prizes;

(h) specify the arrangements for the payment or delivery of prizes to the winners after their award. For the purposes of the first subparagraph, point (a), beneficiaries shall be eligible, unless stated otherwise in the rules of contest. Article 197(3) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the publication of contests.

2. Rules of contests may set the conditions for cancelling the contest, in particular where its objectives cannot be fulfilled.

3. Prizes shall be awarded by the authorising officer responsible following an evaluation by the evaluation committee referred to in Article 153. Article 203(4) and (6) shall apply mutatis mutandis to the award decision.

4. Applicants shall be informed as soon as possible of the outcome of the evaluation of their application and in any case within 15 calendar days after the award decision has been taken by the authorising officer. The decision to award the prize shall be notified to the winning applicant and shall serve as the legal commitment.

5. All prizes awarded in the course of a financial year shall be published in accordance with Article 38(1) to (4). When requested by the European Parliament and by the Council following the publication, the Commission shall forward them a report on:

(a) the number of applicants in the past year;

(b) the number of applicants and the percentage of successful applications per contest;

(c) a list of the experts having taken part in evaluation committees in the past year, together with a reference to the procedure for their selection.