Where the State or agents of the State are not the actors of persecution or serious harm, the determining authority should examine, as part of the assessment of the application for international protection, whether an internal protection alternative exists once it has been established that the qualification criteria set out in this Regulation would otherwise apply to an applicant. An internal protection alternative against persecution or serious harm should be effectively available to applicants in a part of the country of origin to which they can safely and legally travel and gain admittance and in which they can reasonably be expected to settle. The burden of demonstrating the availability of internal protection alternative should fall on the determining authority. Where the determining authority demonstrates that an internal protection alternative is available, applicants should be entitled to present evidence and submit elements at their disposal.