34.—(1) Where regulation 33(1) applies, the contracting authority must not enter into the contract or conclude the framework agreement before the end of the standstill period.
(2) Subject to paragraph (6), where the contracting authority sends a regulation 33(1) notice to all the relevant economic operators by facsimile or electronic means, the standstill period ends at midnight at the end of the 10th day after the relevant sending date.
(3) Subject to paragraph (6), where the contracting authority sends a regulation 33(1) notice to all the relevant economic operators only by other means, the standstill period ends at whichever of the following occurs first—
(a)midnight at the end of the 15th day after the relevant sending date;
(b)midnight at the end of the 10th day after the date on which the last of the economic operators to receive such a notice receives it.
(4) In paragraphs (2) and (3), “the relevant sending date” means the date on which the regulation 33(1) notices are sent to the relevant economic operators, and if the notices are sent to different relevant economic operators on different dates, the relevant sending date is the date on which the last of the notices is sent.
(5) Subject to paragraph (6), where the contracting authority sends a regulation 33(1) notice to one or more of the relevant economic operators by facsimile or electronic means and to the others by other means, the standstill period ends at whichever of the following two times occurs latest—
(a)midnight at the end of the 10th day after the date on which the last notice is sent by facsimile or electronic means;
(b)the time when whichever of the following occurs first—
(i)midnight at the end of the 15th day after the date on which the last notice is sent by other means;
(ii)midnight at the end of the 10th day after the date on which the last of the economic operators to receive a notice sent by any such other means receives it.
(6) Where the last day of the standstill period reckoned in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (5) is not a working day, the standstill period is extended to midnight at the end of the next working day.
(7) In this regulation—
“regulation 33(1) notice” means a notice given in accordance with regulation 33(1); and
“relevant economic operators” means economic operators to which regulation 33(1) requires information to be given.