 Template of June 2018 Updated November 2018  Contract number: EEAS-618-DELBRBB-SER-FWC-2019  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. 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 . 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.  II.5.5. Authorised persons in e-PRIOR  16  II.5.4. Validity and date of e-documents 