II  –  GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR THE SERVICE CONTRACT  II.1 DEFINITIONS  13  ‘Fraud’:  an act or omission committed in order to make an unlawful gain for the perpetrator or another  by causing a loss to the Union's financial interests, and relating to: i) the use or presentation of false,  incorrect or incomplete statements or documents, which has as its effect the misappropriation or  wrongful retention of funds or assets from the Union budget, ii) the non-disclosure of information in  violation of a specific obligation, with the same effect or iii) the misapplication of such funds or assets  for purposes other than those for which they were originally granted, which damages the Union's  financial interests;  ‘Formal notification’  (or ‘formally notify’): form of communication between the parties  made in  writing by mail or email, which provides the sender with compelling evidence that the message was  delivered to the specified recipient; ‘Force majeure’ : any unforeseeable, exceptional situation or event beyond the control of the parties  that prevents either of them from fulfilling any of their obligations under the contract. The situation  or event must not be attributable to error or negligence on the part of the parties or on the part of  the subcontractors and must prove to be inevitable despite their exercising due diligence. Defaults of  service, defects in equipment or material or delays in making them available, labour disputes, strikes  and financial difficulties may not be invoked as  force majeure , unless they stem directly from a  relevant case of  force majeure ; ‘e - PRIOR’ : the service-oriented communication platform that provides a series of web services and  allows the exchange of standardised electronic messages and documents between the parties. This is  done either through web services, with a machine-to- machine connection between the parties’ back  office systems (EDI messages), or through a web application (the supplier portal). The Platform may  be used to exchange electronic documents (e-documents) such as electronic requests for services,  electronic specific contracts, and electronic acceptance of services or electronic invoices between the  parties.  ‘EDI message’  (electronic data interchange): a message created and exchanged through the  electronic transfer, from computer to computer, of commercial and administrative data using an  agreed standard;  ‘Creator’ : means any natural person who contributes to the production of the  result ;  ‘Conflict of interest’ : a situation where the impartial and objective  performance of the contract  by  the contractor is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity,  economic interest, or any other direct or indirect personal interest, or any other shared interest with  the contracting authority or any third party related to the subject matter of the contract;  ‘Confidential information or document’ : any information or document received by either party  from the other or accessed by either party in the context of the  performance of the contract,  that any  of the parties has identified in writing as confidential. It may not include information that is publicly  available;  ‘Breach of obligations’:  failure by the contractor to fulfil one or more of its contractual obligations.  ‘Back office’ : the internal system(s) used by the parties to process electronic invoices; For the purpose of this contract, the following definitions (indicated in  italics  in the text) apply: 