Brussels, 10/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has decided to grant a derogation to state aid rules to allow the extension of a delivery deadline for a cruiseliner built at Meyer shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. The EU Shipbuilding Regulation stipulates that shipbuilding contracts signed before the abolition of operating aid in 2000 have to be executed by the end of 2003 to be able to benefit from aid of up to 9% of the contract value, but under strict conditions, the Commission may grant derogations and extend the deadline by three years if circumstances can be shown to have disrupted the yard's work programme. In December 2001, Germany asked the Commission to grant an extension of the delivery deadline for a cruiseliner being built by the Meyer shipyard, originally foreseen for 29 December 2003. The shipyard was awarded "on this basis 7% contract related operating aid by the German authorities for the building of the vessel". However, the shipowner, Royal Caribbean Cruises, requested a postponement of the delivery date to 28 May 2004 due to the repercussions of S-11 on the cruiseliner market. The Commission described this as "exceptional circumstances" and that given the shipyard's huge dependency on the shipowner (responsible for 53% of its order book since 1995), it was obliged to grant the shipowner's request for an extension.