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1. ‘maritime transport services within a Member State (maritime cabotage)’ shall mean services normally provided for remuneration and shall in particular include:

(a) mainland cabotage: the carriage of passengers or goods by sea between ports situated on the mainland or the main territory of one and the same Member State without calls at islands;

(b) off-shore supply services: the carriage of passengers or goods by sea between any port in a Member State and installations or structures situated on the continental shelf of that Member State;

(c) island cabotage: the carriage of passengers or goods by sea between:

— ports situated on the mainland and on one or more of the islands of one and the same Member State,

— ports situated on the islands of one and the same Member State; Ceuta and Melilla shall be treated in the same way as island ports.

2. ‘Community shipowner’ shall mean:

(a) nationals of a Member State established in a Member State in accordance with the legislation of that Member State and pursuing shipping activities;

(b) shipping companies established in accordance with the legislation of a Member State and whose principal place of business is situated, and effective control exercised, in a Member State; or (c) nationals of a Member State established outside the Community or shipping companies established outside the Community and controlled by nationals of a Member State, if their ships are registered in and fly the flag of a Member State in accordance with its legislation;

3. ‘a public service contract’ shall mean a contract concluded between the competent authorities of a Member State and a Community shipowner in order to provide the public with adequate transport services. A public service contract may cover notably:

— transport services satisfying fixed standards of continuity, regularity, capacity and quality,

— additional transport services,

— transport services at specified rates and subject to specified conditions, in particular for certain categories of passengers or on certain routes,

— adjustments of services to actual requirements; 4. ‘public service obligations’ shall mean obligations which the Community shipowner in question, if he were considering his own commercial interest, would not assume or would not assume to the same extent or under the same conditions;

5. ‘a serious disturbance of the internal transport market’ shall mean the appearance on the market of problems specific to that market and which:

— are likely to lead to a serious and potentially lasting excess of supply over demand,

— are due to, or aggravated by, maritime cabotage operations, and — pose a serious threat to the financial stability and survival of a significant number of Community shipowners, provided that the short-term and medium-term forecasts for the market in question do not indicate any substantial and lasting improvements.