25.—(1) A utility may establish and operate a system of qualification of economic operators if that system complies with this regulation.
(2) The utility shall permit economic operators to apply for qualification under the system at any time during its operation.
(3) The system may involve different stages of qualification and shall be based on objective rules and criteria as determined from time to time by the utility and those criteria and rules may include technical specifications in which case the provisions of regulation 12 shall apply.
(4) The rules and criteria referred to in paragraph (3) may include the rejection criteria referred to in regulation 26(3) and (5).
(5) Where the utility is a contracting authority, the rules and criteria referred to in paragraph (3) shall include the rejection criteria referred to in regulation 26(1).
(6) Where the criteria referred to in paragraph (3) includes requirements relating to the economic and financial capacity or the technical or professional abilities of an economic operator–
(a)the economic operator, or a group of economic operators as referred to in regulation 28, may rely on the capacity or abilities of other entities or members in the group, whatever the legal nature of the link between the economic operator or the group of economic operators and the other entities; and
(b)the economic operator or the group of economic operators shall prove to the utility that the necessary resources will be available to it, and such proof may in particular include an undertaking from those entities to that effect.
(7) In determining what rules and criteria are to be met by applicants to qualify under the system a utility shall comply with regulation 24.
(8) Where the utility makes a call for competition in respect of a contract by publishing a notice on the existence of a qualification system, it shall comply with regulation 23(4).
(9) The rules of and criteria applying to the system shall be made available on request to economic operators and any amendment of those rules and criteria shall be sent to them as the amendment is incorporated into the system.
(10) The utility may establish a system of qualification where an economic operator may qualify under the system of, or be certified by, another person, and in those circumstances the utility shall inform economic operators which apply to qualify the name of that other person.
(11) The utility shall inform applicants for qualification of the success or failure of their application within 6 months from the date of presentation of an application and, if the decision will take longer than 4 months, the utility shall inform the applicant, within 2 months of the date of presentation of the application of–
(a)the reasons justifying a longer period; and
(b)the date by which its application will be accepted or refused.
(12) The utility shall inform any applicant whose application to qualify is refused of the decision and the reasons for refusal as soon as possible and under no circumstances later than 15 days after the date of the decision.
(13) An application may only be refused if the applicant fails to meet the requirements for qualification laid down in accordance with paragraph (3).
(14) The utility shall keep a written record of qualified economic operators which may be divided into categories according to the type of contract for which the qualification is valid.
(15) The utility may cancel the qualification of an economic operator which has qualified under the qualification system only if it does not continue to meet the rules and criteria laid down in accordance with paragraph (3).
(16) The utility may not cancel a qualification unless it notifies the economic operator in writing at least 15 days before the qualification is due to be cancelled of the reasons for the proposed cancellation.
(17) The utility shall send a notice in the form of the qualification system notice in Annex VII to Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1564/2005 and containing the information relating to the qualification system therein specified to the Official Journal when the system is first established.
(18) If the utility expects to operate the system for more than 3 years, or if it has operated the system for more than 3 years, it shall send a notice as referred to in paragraph (17) on an annual basis after the year in which the system is first established.