L 19/70 Official Journal of the European Union 21.1.2005 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 8 September 2004 amending Decision 2004/166/EC on aid which France intends to grant for the restructuring of the Société Nationale Maritime Corse-Méditerranée (SNCM) (notified under document number C(2004) 3359) (Only the French text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2005/36/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 88(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having regard to Commission Decision 2004/166/EC of 9 July 2003 (1), and in particular Article 2 thereof, Whereas: 1. PROCEDURE 1.1. Procedural overview On 9 July 2003, the Commission adopted Decision 2004/166[EC on aid which France intends to grant for the restructuring of Société Nationale Maritime Corse- Méditerranée (SNCM) (hereinafter final decision), in which it declared part of the aid notified to be compatible with the single market provided that certain conditions were met. One of these conditions, which is stated in Article 2 of the final decision, is that until 31 December 2006 SNCM was to refrain from acquiring () O] L 61, 27.2.2004, p. 13. ) () new ships and signing contracts for building, ordering or chartering new or renovated ships. SNCM could only operate the 11 ships which it already possessed at the date of the final decision, namely: the Napoléon Bonaparte, Danielle Casanova, Tle de Beauté, Corse, Liamone, Aliso, Médi- terranée, Pascal Paoli, Paglia Orba, Monte Cinto and Monte d’Oro. The last paragraph of this Article reads: ‘If for reasons beyond its control SNCM has to replace one of its ships before 31 December 2006, the Commission may authorise such a replacement on the basis of a duly reasoned notice served by France'. In a letter dated 23 June 2004 (), the French authorities requested permission from the Commission to replace the vessel Aliso with the Asco in the list of ships included in Article 2 of the final decision. Also, due to the difficulties encountered by SNCM in selling the Asco, the French authorities requested permission from the Commission to sell either the Aliso or the Asco, contrary to the provision made in the restructuring plan (3). 1.2. Name of the measure The name of the measure is ‘Amendments to the Commission’s final decision of 9 July 2003 on aid for the restructuring of SNCM'. (® Registered by the Commission under reference TREN(2004) AJ26015. () See recital 97 of the final decision.