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1. The arrangements for the submission of application documents shall be determined by the authorising officer responsible who may choose an exclusive method of submission. The means of communication chosen shall be such as to ensure that there is genuine competition and that the following conditions are satisfied:

(a) each submission contains all the information required for its evaluation;

(b) the integrity of data is preserved;

(c) the confidentiality of application documents is preserved;

(d) the protection of personal data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 is ensured.

2. The Commission shall ensure by appropriate means and in accordance with Article 150(1) that participants may submit the application documents and any supporting evidence in an electronic format. Any electronic communication system used to support communications and information exchanges shall be non-discriminatory, generally available and interoperable with information and communication technology products in general use and shall not restrict participants’ access to the award procedure. The Commission shall report regularly to the European Parliament and to the Council on the progress of the application of this paragraph.

3. Devices for the electronic receipt of application documents shall guarantee, through technical means and appropriate procedures, that:

(a) the participant can be authenticated with certainty;

(b) the exact time and date of the receipt of application documents can be determined precisely;

(c) only authorised persons have access to the data transmitted and may set or change the dates for opening the application documents;

(d) during the different stages of the award procedure only authorised persons have access to all data submitted and may give access to the data as needed for the procedure;

(e) it is reasonably ensured that any attempt to infringe any of the conditions set out in points (a) to (d) can be detected. The first subparagraph shall not apply to contracts below the thresholds referred to in Article 178(1).

4. Where the authorising officer responsible authorises submission of application documents by electronic means, the electronic documents submitted by means of such systems shall be deemed to be the originals.

5. Where submission is by letter, participants may choose to submit application documents:

(a) either by post or by courier service, in which case the evidence of submission shall be constituted by the postmark or the date of the deposit slip;

(b) by hand-delivery to the premises of the authorising officer responsible by the participant in person or by an agent, in which case the evidence of submission shall be constituted by the acknowledgement of receipt. For contracts awarded by, or exclusively in the interest of, Union delegations in third countries, the contracting authority may restrict the submission by letter to only one of the means indicated above. Where the contracting authority makes use of this provision, it shall document the reasons for that restriction.

6. By submitting application documents, participants accept to receive notification of the outcome of the procedure by electronic means.

7. Participants or recipients or any other persons or entities referred to in Article 137(2) accept to receive notifications in the terms of the specific legal commitment or concession contract, including any notification concerning the application of any of the measures referred to in Article 137(1). Where persons or entities referred to in Article 137(2), point (b), are concerned, the applicant shall be responsible for communicating to the contracting authority the address of the entity concerned. Unless exchanges are made through the electronic exchange system referred to in Article 151, where the person or entity has been notified by electronic means to the address indicated in the application, and failing the express acknowledgement of receipt of the electronic notification, it shall be presumed that the person or entity has been put in a position to take cognizance of the content of the exchange and therefore it shall be considered as notified.

8. Paragraphs 1 to 7 of this Article shall not apply to the selection of persons or entities implementing Union funds pursuant to Article 62(1), first subparagraph, point (c), unless the selection is made further to a call for expression of interest.