## ARTICLE 1. DEFINITIONS 

## PRELIMINARYPROVISIONS 

1.1. The headings and titles in these General Conditions shall not be taken as part thereof or be taken into consideration in the interpretation of the Contract. 

1.2. Where the context so permits words importing the singular shall be deemed to include the plural and vice versa and words importing the masculine shall be deemed to include the feminine and vice versa. 

1.3. The word “country” shall be deemed to include State or Territory. 

1.4. Words importing persons or parties shall include firms and companies and any organisation having legal capacity. 

1.5. The definitions of the terms used throughout this General Conditions are laid down in the "Glossary of terms", annex A1 to the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EU external actions, which forms an integral part of this contract. 

## ARTICLE 2. NOTICES AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS 

2.1. Whenever there is a deadline for the receipt of a written communication, the sender should ask for an acknowledgement of receipt of its communication. In any event, the sender shall take all the necessary measures to ensure timely receipt of the communication 

2.2. Any notice, consent, approval, certificate or decision by any person required under the contract shall be in writing, unless otherwise specified, and shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. 

2.3. Any oral instructions or orders shall be confirmed in writing. 

## ARTICLE 3. ASSIGNMENT 

3.1. An assignment is any agreement by which the Consultant transfers its contract or part thereof to a third party. 

3.2. The Consultant shall not, without the prior written consent of the Contracting Authority, assign the contract or any part thereof, or any benefit or interest hereunder. 

3.3. The approval of an assignment by the Contracting Authority shall not relieve the Consultant of its obligations for the part of the contract already performed or the part not assigned. 

3.4. Assignees must satisfy the eligibility criteria applicable to the award of the contract and they can not be in any of the exclusion situations stipulated under Article 57 of European Parliament and Council Directive 2014/24/EU. 

## ARTICLE 4. SUBCONTRACTING 

4.1. Any agreement by which the Consultant entrusts performance of a part of the services to a third party is considered to be a sub-contract. For this purpose, individual experts recruited for the project as key or non key experts are not regarded as subcontractors. The conditions for sub- contracting are specified in the Special Conditions. 

4.2. The Consultant must seek the prior written authorisation of the Contracting Authority before entering into a subcontract. This authorisation will be based on the services to be subcontracted and the identity of the intended sub-contractor. The Contracting Authority shall, with due regard to the provisions of Article 2.2, within 30 days of receipt of the notification, notify the Consultant of its decision, stating reasons, should it withhold such authorisation. 

4.3. No subcontract can create contractual relations between any subcontractor and the Contracting Authority. 

4.4. The Consultant shall be responsible for the acts, defaults and negligence of its subcontractors and their experts, agents or employees, as if they were the acts, defaults or negligence of the Consultant, its experts, agents or employees. The approval by the Contracting Authority of the sub-contracting of any part of the contract or of the engagement by the Consultant of sub- contractors to perform any part of the services shall not relieve the Consultant of any of its obligations under the contract. 

4.5. If a subcontractor is found by the Contracting Authority or the Project Manager to be incompetent in 

