Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions updating and rectifying the Communication on the interpretation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3577/92 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime transport within Member States (maritime cabotage)
Date: 2006-05-11
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Gibraltar, State aid, application of EU law, domestic market, freedom to provide services, maritime cabotage, maritime transport, public service, vehicle registration

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 11.5.2006 
COM(2006) 196 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS  

updating and rectifying the Communication on the interpretation of Council Regulation 
(EEC) No 3577/92 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime 
transport within Member States (maritime cabotage)  

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS  

updating and rectifying the Communication on the interpretation of Council Regulation 
(EEC) No 3577/92 applying the principle of freedom to provide services to maritime 
transport within Member States (maritime cabotage)  

In  its  Communication  of  22  December  2003  to  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council,  the 
European  Economic  and  Social  Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions  on  the 
interpretation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3577/92 applying the principle of freedom to 
provide  services  to  maritime  transport  within  Member  States  (maritime cabotage)1  the 
Commission  addressed  several  matters  relating  to  the  implementation  of  the  Regulation  in 
question.  

Further  to  developments  in  Community  law  and  because  of  a  need  for  clarification,  the 
Commission feels that it is necessary to return to two of the subjects dealt with in the above-
mentioned Communication. 

(1) 

Passenger threshold for “small islands” 

Section 5.6 of the Communication deals with simplified procedures for the carriage of goods 
and  passengers  to  “small  islands”,  which  are  taken  to  mean  islands  where  the  total  annual 
number of passengers carried by sea to and from the island is around 100 000 or fewer. 

On 28 November 2005 the Commission adopted Decision 2005/842/EC on the application of 
Article 86(2) of the Treaty to State aid in the form of public service compensation granted to 
certain undertakings entrusted with the operation of services of general economic interest2.  

That  Decision  sets  out  the  conditions  under  which  State  aid  in  the  form  of  public  service 
compensation  granted  to  certain  undertakings  entrusted  with  the  operation  of  services  of 
general  economic  interest  is  to  be  regarded  as  compatible  with  the  common  market  and 
exempt from the requirement of notification laid down in Article 88(3) of the Treaty. Article 2 
(1)(c) of the Decision applies to compensation for air or maritime links to islands on which 
average  annual  traffic  during  the  two  financial  years  preceding  that  in  which  the  service  of 
general economic interest was assigned does not exceed 300 000 passengers. 

The Commission considers that compensation for services of general economic interest in the 
field  of  maritime  transport  and  the  procedures  for  selecting  the  undertakings  in  charge  of 
those services are closely linked and that, therefore, the same passenger threshold should be 
provided  for  in  Article  2(1)(c)  of  Decision  2005/842/EC  and  in  Section  5.6  of  the 
Communication on Cabotage. 

1 
2 

COM(2003) 595. 
OJ L 312 of 29.11.2005, P.67. 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
                                                 
For  these  reasons  the  Commission  intends  to  apply  a  threshold  of  300  000  passengers  per 
year, instead of 100 000 passengers, for the purposes of Section 5.6 of the Communication on 
the interpretation of Council Regulation (EEC) No 3577/92. 

(2) 

Ships registered in Gibraltar 

Section  2.2.2  of  the  Communication  on  the  interpretation  of  Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No 
3577/92 deals with access to cabotage and the conditions of ship registration in the Member 
States.  Paragraph  3  of  Section  2.2.2  addresses  ships  registered  in  Gibraltar.  The  above-
mentioned paragraph provides for the possibility of refusing access to cabotage to Gibraltar-
registered  ships  if  it  were  established  that  those  ships  were  not  effectively  subject  to  the 
Treaty and to the Community law derived from it. 

Since  the  Community  set  of  rules  in  the  field  of  maritime  transport  is  entirely  applicable  to 
ships registered in Gibraltar, the statement contained in the above-mentioned Paragraph 3 is 
incorrect and must be rectified.  

Therefore,  the  Commission  points  out  that  ships  registered  in  Gibraltar  are  entitled  to  have 
access  to  maritime  cabotage  under  the  same  conditions  as  any  ship  registered  in  a  Member 
State.  

EN 

3 

   EN