programme for the following year, but shall in no event exceed 1% of the gross revenues of each service provider. 4. The Authority may require payments of universal access levies annually or in installments, and prescribe such other procedures, rules and guidelines as necessary for their efficient and effective collection. 5. The Authority may exempt any service provider from paying the levy set out in paragraph 3 of this article if its gross revenues earned from the provision of telecommunications services are below $10,000 (ten thousand United States dollars). 6. All levies collected pursuant to this article shall be deposited into the Universal Access Compensation Fund. 7. Levies shall not be collected until after a period of two years has elapsed from the date of the entry into force of the present Decree-Law, and the Authority shall only determine their collection if it considers that such levies are a cost-effective means to meet the universal service objectives as defined in the approved universal access programme. 8. Moneys in the Universal Access Compensation Fund shall be used to fund: a) Service providers that undertake to use such funds to fulfill specified universal access obligations in accordance with a universal access programme; and b) The fees and expenses of external consultants in connection with the universal access programme. 9. The Authority shall select recipients of universal access funding in accordance with a competitive selection process. 10. No service provider shall be entitled to universal access funding for the provision of telecommunications services where access to telecommunications services or effective substitutes thereof are available or such services are expected to become available. The Authority shall, after consulting with the Ministry of Finance, establish procedures, rules and guidelines for competitive selection processes and other matters for the administration of the Universal Access Compensation Fund, including in relation to: 11. a) The development and selection process for universal access projects; b) The selection process for allocating funding, including lowest subsidy bidding; c) The process for requesting presentation of proposals; d) Eligibility criteria; e) Project requirements, including ongoing monitoring;

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