Article 99
1. Subject to Annex IV to the ACP-EC Agreement, the contracting authority may impose administrative or financial penalties on the following: (a) candidates or tenderers in the cases referred to in Article 97(b); (b) contractors who have been declared to be in serious breach of their obligations under contracts covered by the EDF. In all cases, however, the contracting authority must first give the person concerned an opportunity to present his observations. 2. The penalties referred to in paragraph 1 shall be proportionate to the importance of the contract and the seriousness of the misconduct, and may consist in: (a) the exclusion of the candidate or tenderer or contractor concerned from the contracts and grants financed by the EDF, for a maximum period of ten years; and/or (b) the payment of financial penalties by the candidate or tenderer or contractor up to the value of the contract in question. 3. Article 134b of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 shall apply mutatis mutandis to contracts financed from EDF resources.