L 306/18 Official Journal of the European Communities 11. 11. 97 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 12 March 1997 concerning State aid for Aircraft Services Lemwerder (ASL) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (97/753/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 93 (2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement establishing the Euro- pean Economic Area, and in particular Article 62 (1) (a) thereof, Having given notice in accordance with Article 93 to interested parties to submit their comments to it, Whereas: On 30 May 1995 the Commission decided to initiate the procedure under Article 93 (2) of the EC Treaty in respect of aid granted by the authorities of the Land of Lower Saxony to Aircraft Services Lemwerder GmbH (ASL), an enterprise specialized in the maintenance and refur- bishing of civil aircraft. The enterprise is located in Lemwerder, a structurally disadvantaged area which has been eligible for regional aid under Article 92 (3) (c) of the EC Treaty since 1 January 1995. Until 1993 the plant was a branch of DASA, which then decided to close the plant down, discontinung its main- tenance and refurbishing activities in Lemwerder and transferring its military aviation activities to DASA’s Manching plant in Bavaria. The Land of Lower Saxony intervened and negotiated an agreement with DASA in order to safeguard the civil aviation activities at the Lemwerder plant. An independent consultancy firm was commissioned by it to report on the possibilities of con- tinuing civil aricraft maintenance as an independent ac- tivity. The report excluded DASA as a potential partner at the Lemwerder plant. DASA decided to discontinue its civil aviation maintenance activities, because they were no longer economically viable in view of the sharp falls in prices and worldwide overcapacity. Consequently, drastic measures regarding employment, working hours and wages were a prerequisite for the continued existence of the Lemwerder plant. The report concluded that there were estimated overcapa- cities of 25 - 30 % in the sector which were not expected to decrease, whereas the annual increase in demand would be only 3 - 4%, with the result that the market was expected to be a buyers’ market even after the year 2000. It therefore recommended that the Lemwerder plant should concentrate its activities on light and heavy main- tenance, technical modification, refurbishing, equipping, painting and repair of civil aircraft. These activities could be supplemented by, among other things, R&D, logistics, training, and maintenance and repair of components.