Brussels, 12/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 11 May, the European Commission decided to slightly modify its communication of 22 December 2003 on the interpretation of Regulation 3577/92 on maritime cabotage. The communication above all provides for simplified procedure for selecting the public service provider responsible for ensuring maritime public service links to and between small islands. The initial threshold set for applying simplified procedure was 100,000 passengers or less. Simplified procedure means that public authorities do not have to launch formal calls for tender procedures for these maritime links. Under simplified procedure, a call for expression of interest throughout the EU is all that is needed when choosing an operator, on condition that the procedure is in line with transparency and non-discrimination criteria. Simplified procedure of this kind covers 40% of the Community islands but only 1.8% of the total number of passengers carried by ferry on intra-Community lines. In the communication adopted on 11 May by written procedure, the Commission suggests increasing the threshold from 100,000 to 300,000 passengers annually, representing around 8% of the total number of passengers. Such a change will also bring the 2003 communication into line with Decision 2005/842/EC on the financing of services of general economic interest, which exempts from State aid notification compensation for maritime links to islands with fewer than 300,000 passengers per year.