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1. Participation in procurement and in grant award procedures for activities financed under the Facility shall be open to international and regional organisations and to all natural persons who are nationals of, or legal persons effectively established in:

(a) Member States, beneficiaries, candidate countries and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area;

(b) countries which provide a level of support to beneficiaries comparable to that provided by the Union, taking into account the size of their economy, and for which reciprocal access to external assistance in the beneficiaries is established by the Commission.

2. The reciprocal access referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), may be granted for a limited period of at least one year where a country grants eligibility on equal terms to entities from the Union and from countries eligible under the Facility. The Commission shall decide on the reciprocal access after consulting the beneficiary concerned.

3. All supplies and materials financed and procured under this Facility shall originate from any country referred to in paragraph 1, points (a) and (b), unless those supplies and materials cannot be sourced under reasonable conditions in any of those countries. In addition, the rules on restrictions laid down in paragraph 6 shall apply.

4. The eligibility rules under this Article shall not apply to, and shall not create nationality restrictions for, natural persons employed or otherwise legally contracted by an eligible contractor or, where applicable, subcontractor except where the nationality restrictions are based on the rules provided for in paragraph 6.

5. For activities jointly co-financed by an entity or implemented under direct management or indirect management with entities referred to in Article 62(1), first subparagraph, point(c) of the Financial Regulation, the rules applicable to those entities shall also apply. This is without prejudice to the restrictions under paragraph 6 of this Article, which shall be duly reflected in the agreements concluded with those entities.

6. The eligibility rules and rules on the origin of supplies and materials set out in paragraphs 1 and 3 and rules on the nationality of the natural persons as set out in paragraph 4 may be restricted with regard to the nationality, geographical location or nature of the legal entities participating in award procedures, as well as with regard to the geographical origin of supplies and materials where:

(a) such restrictions are required on account of the specific nature or objectives of the activity or specific award procedure or where those restrictions are necessary for the effective implementation of the activity;

(b) the activity or specific award procedures affect security or public order, in particular concerning strategic assets and interests of the Union, of Member States, or of any of the beneficiaries, including the security, resilience and protection of integrity of digital infrastructure, including 5G network infrastructure,, communication and information systems, and related supply chains.

7. Tender applicants and candidates from non-eligible countries may be accepted as eligible in cases of urgency or where services are unavailable in the markets of the countries or territories concerned, or in other duly substantiated cases where the application of the eligibility rules would make the realisation of an activity impossible or exceedingly difficult.