<s>[INST] The next text is a question of a member of the European parliament:"The provisions of Directive2006/123/EC, known as the ‘Services Directive’, are causing a number of problems, especially as far as the rules on authorisations are concerned.   The transposition into the Member States' national law of Article12 of the Services Directive is creating disruption in important sectors of our economy, such as retail trade.   In particular, the extension of the concept of ‘natural resource’ to mere public land is causing great concern for street traders. They occupy public land in our towns and cities for only a few hours a week, they are small family businesses providing a very useful service to European consumers, but, according to a certain interpretation of the Services Directive, they may obtain authorisations only if these are limited in time and not automatically renewable.   This is creating huge difficulties for local authorities too, which will have to organise tender procedures to assign authorisations for street trade which, in large cities such as Turin, Genoa and Milan, provides work for thousands of families who are very worried about losing their jobs in what is clearly going to be a ‘war of the poor.’  Operators of bathing establishments and of small newspaper stands, and even bars and restaurants that occupy areas on public land have the same concerns and similar problems.    Given that in the coming weeks an initiative will be submitted concerning concessions that might resolve the issues raised, can the Commission say:       —  whether it is aware of this problem and intends to do anything about it;       —  whether it thinks it might be useful to introduce threshold values below which local authorities would be exempted from carrying out tender procedures in order to grant authorisations;       —  whether it would not be better, in order to get to the root of these problems, to eliminate the prohibitions laid down in Article12(2) of the Services Directive and make it lawful for the Member States to confer advantages on the provider whose authorisation has just expired and to promote the automatic renewal of authorisations?"
Analyze carefully the text and assign it to the most relevant policy area among those listed below. Do not explain your answer and return only a number.
Policy area numbers: 1 = Macroeconomics
2 = Civil Rights, Minority Issues and Civil Liberties
3 = Health
4 = Agriculture and Fisheries
5 = Labour, employment and pensions
6 = Education
7 = Environment
8 = Energy
9 = Immigration
10 = Transportation
12 = Law and Crime
13 = Social welfare
14 = Regional and Urban issues and Planning
15 = Banking, finance and domestic commerce issues
16 = Defence
17 = Space, science, technology, and communications issues
18 = Foreign trade
19 = International affairs and foreign aid
20 = Governance and government
21 = Public Lands, Water Management and Territorial Issues
23 = Culture and media
[/INST]. Answer = [15]. </s>
The provisions of Directive2006/123/EC, known as the ‘Services Directive’, are causing a number of problems, especially as far as the rules on authorisations are concerned.   The transposition into the Member States' national law of Article12 of the Services Directive is creating disruption in important sectors of our economy, such as retail trade.   In particular, the extension of the concept of ‘natural resource’ to mere public land is causing great concern for street traders. They occupy public land in our towns and cities for only a few hours a week, they are small family businesses providing a very useful service to European consumers, but, according to a certain interpretation of the Services Directive, they may obtain authorisations only if these are limited in time and not automatically renewable.   This is creating huge difficulties for local authorities too, which will have to organise tender procedures to assign authorisations for street trade which, in large cities such as Turin, Genoa and Milan, provides work for thousands of families who are very worried about losing their jobs in what is clearly going to be a ‘war of the poor.’  Operators of bathing establishments and of small newspaper stands, and even bars and restaurants that occupy areas on public land have the same concerns and similar problems.    Given that in the coming weeks an initiative will be submitted concerning concessions that might resolve the issues raised, can the Commission say:       —  whether it is aware of this problem and intends to do anything about it;       —  whether it thinks it might be useful to introduce threshold values below which local authorities would be exempted from carrying out tender procedures in order to grant authorisations;       —  whether it would not be better, in order to get to the root of these problems, to eliminate the prohibitions laid down in Article12(2) of the Services Directive and make it lawful for the Member States to confer advantages on the provider whose authorisation has just expired and to promote the automatic renewal of authorisations?