1 INFORMATION ON TENDERING  1.1 Participation  1.2 Contractual conditions 5  The European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) is an agency of the European Union,  established by the European Parliament and Council Regulation 851/2004 of 21 April 2004. Further  information about ECDC can be found on the ECDC website www.ecdc.europa.eu.  This tender process is governed by Directive 2014/24/EU and Regulation 2018/1046.  Participation in this procurement procedure is open on equal terms to all natural and legal persons coming  within the scope of the Treaties, as well as to international organisations, established in the European  Union, European Economic Area and Stabilisation and Association Agreements countries.  For economic operators established in the United Kingdom (UK): please be aware that as from 1 February  2020, the UK became a third country and the transition period ended on 31 December 2020. Based on the  status of the UK as a third country, the rules of access to EU procurement procedures of economic  operators established in third countries will apply to tenderers from the UK. Tenderers established in third  countries do not have access to ECDC’s procurements and will be rejected as ineligible.  Please note that any attempt by a tenderer to obtain confidential information, enter into unlawful  agreements with competitors or influence the evaluation committee or ECDC during the process of  examining, clarifying, evaluating and comparing tenders will lead to the rejection of his tender and may  result in administrative penalties. The tenderer should take note of the provisions of the draft contract (see section 4. Annexes) which  specifies the rights and obligations of the contractor, particularly those on payments, performance of the  contract, confidentiality, intellectual property rights and checks and audits. Signature of the framework contract imposes no obligation on ECDC to order services. Only the  implementation of the framework contract through specific contracts/order forms is binding for ECDC.  Each specific contract/order form will contain details of deliverables and timelines for particular services  to be provided.  ECDC wishes to conclude a single framework contract for each lot.  The article covering the implementation of the framework contract is described in the special conditions  of the draft Framework Contract (see section 4. Annexes). 