5. If it is impossible to restore the communication within two working days, one party must notify the other that alternative means of communication specified in Article II.5.1 will be used until the supplier portal  or the machine-to-machine connection is restored. 

6. When a change in the interface control document  requires adaptations, the contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) has up to six months from receipt of the notification to implement this change. This period can be shortened by mutual agreement of the parties. This period does not apply to urgent measures required by the security policy of the contracting authority to ensure integrity, confidentiality and non-repudiation of information and the availability of e-PRIOR , which must be applied immediately. 

## II.5.4. Validity and date of e-documents 

1. The parties agree that any e-document, including related attachments exchanged via e- PRIOR : 

(a) is considered as equivalent to a paper document; 

(b) is deemed to be the original of the document; 

(c) is legally binding on the parties once an e-PRIOR authorised person has performed the ‘sign’ action in e-PRIOR  and has full legal effect; and 

(d) constitutes evidence of the information contained in it and is admissible as evidence in judicial proceedings. 

2. The parties expressly waive any rights to contest the validity of such a document solely on the grounds that communications between the parties occurred through e- PRIOR  or that the document has been signed through e-PRIOR . If a direct connection is established between the parties’ back offices to allow electronic transfer of documents, the parties agree that an e-document, sent as mentioned in the interface control document , qualifies as an EDI message . 

3. If the e-document is dispatched through the supplier portal , it is deemed to have been legally issued or sent when the contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) is able to successfully submit the e-document without any error messages. The generated PDF and XML document for the e-document are considered as a proof of receipt by the contracting authority. 

4. In the event that an e-document is dispatched using a direct connection established between the parties’ back offices , the e-document is deemed to have been legally issued or sent when its status is ‘received’ as defined in the interface control document . 

5. When using the supplier portal , the contractor (or leader in the case of a joint tender) can download the PDF or XML message for each e-document for one year after submission. After this period, copies of the e-documents are no longer available for automatic download from the supplier portal . 

## II.5.5. Authorised persons in e-PRIOR 

The contractor submits a request for each person who needs to be assigned the role of ‘user’ in e-PRIOR . These persons are identified by means of the European Communication Authentication Service (ECAS) and authorised to access and perform actions in e-PRIOR within the permissions of the user roles that the contracting authority has assigned to them. 

