Sustainable Tourism Law

264 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW III.3. The scope of application of the LGMU is broader than that of the Services Directive As already mentioned, the LGMU is more intense in its liberalizing approaches than the Services Directive itself and the rules of transposition This greater intensity in the liberalization of the LGMU occurs in several aspects. One of the most outstanding is the expansion of the economic activities to which it is addressed. If the scope of application of the Services Directive and its transposition rules is the tertiary sector of the economy, with many exceptions, as already indicated above (Articles 1 and 2 of the Directive) 14, the LGMU will be applied, in general, to all economic activities 15 , as established in article 16, with the last exception of certain sectors to which its explanatory statement refers, using a certainly doubtful legislative technique that is entails important problems in its application. This limitation to which I refer is, in addition, confusing and, to a large extent, contradictory. This happens because the exceptions in the application are differentiated according to whether we are talking about “Guarantees for free establishment and circulation” (Chapter IV of the Law) 16 or the “Principle of effectiveness throughout the national territory” (Chapter V) 17 . In addition, if on the one hand it refers to sectors that are outside, such as the taxi and the lease of vehicles with drivers, on the contrary, it is indicated that this Law should be applied especially in strategic economic activities such as, for example, transport. One of the essential criticisms that can be made about this excessive field of application is not taking into account the special features of each economic sector. That is to say, it is not the same to initiate or to exert an activity related 14 As already mentioned, the relationship between matters that are not dealt with (article 1) and the one that does not apply (article 2). 15 ALONSOMÁS, MJ, “The territorial effectiveness of the qualifying titles in the law 20/2013”, in GUILLÉN CARAMÉS, J. and CUERDO MIR, M., (Directors), RAMS RAMOS, L., (Coordinator), Studies on the Market Unit Guarantee Law , Aranzadi, 2017. 16 On the other hand, the authorization will be the appropriate instrument to guarantee competitive competi- tion in cases where there is a limitation of the number of operators in the market due to the scarcity of natural resources, the use of the public domain, the technical limitations of that activity or the provision of public services subject to regulated tariffs, including those whose provision requires the use of the public domain or because they are services that may put at risk their adequate provision, as happens, for example, with the exercise of activities developed by the taxi and the leasing of vehicles with drivers, with the public concessions or with the pharmacy offices that are considered included in the provisions of article 17.1 of this Law. 17 This principle of effectiveness is not, however, applicable to certain actions related to physical facilities or infrastructures, to the occupation of the public domain or to the provision of public services subject to regulated tariffs that, due to their nature, are linked to a specific territorial scope, territorial, as it happens again with the activities developed by the taxi and the leasing of vehicles with drivers, with the public concessions or with the pharmacy offices, which are considered included in the provisions of the second paragraph of article 20.4 of this Law.