The European Citizens’ Initiative What is it? How does it work? The first months of the ECI European Commission Secretariat-General Unit G.4 General Institutional Issues 29 November 2012

What is it? Invitation by one million EU citizens to the European Commission to propose legislation First transnational tool of participatory democracy Introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon (Art. 11(4) TEU) Rules and procedures defined by Regulation (EU) No 211/2011 on the citizens’ initiative, which started to apply on 1 April 2012

How does it work? Collect statements of support in at least 7 Member States You wish to collect online? Get your system certified Register your initiative Get statements of support certified by Member States If the Commission decides to follow your initiative. The legislative procedure starts. Prepare your initiative and set up your citizens’ committee You have at least one million signatories? Submit your initiative to the Commission The Commission examines your initiative and replies

How does it work? Register your initiative Prepare your initiative and set up your citizens’ committee

How does it work? Registration

How does it work? Registration The Commission will register the proposed initiative within 2 months of the request provided that: The citizens' committee has been formed and the contact persons designated; The initiative is not: - Manifestly outside the Commissions’ powers - Manifestly abusive, frivolous or vexatious - Manifestly contrary to EU values

How does it work? Registration The initiative is published

How does it work? Registration The representative and the substitute have access to the organiser account

How does it work? Collection of statements of support Organisers can start collecting statements of support 12 months 1 million Minimum number in at least 7 Member States On paper and/or online Using forms compliant with Annex III to the Regulation

How does it work? Collection on paper

How does it work? Online collection In order to collect statements of support online, organisers must : Build an online collection system compliant with the Regulation (technical specifications set out in Implementing Regulation No 1179/2011) choose to use the software provided by the Commission (OCS) or develop their own software find a service provider (in the EU territory)

How does it work? Certification Get their system certified by the national competent authority Who? National competent authority of the Member State where the data will be stored What? Compliance of the system with the technical specifications – easier for systems using OCS! How? Member States are free to decide how to verify the compliance How long? Max. 1 month Why? Precondition for the online collection When? Before or after registration

How does it work? Get statements of support certified by Member States Register your initiative Collect statements of support in at least 7 Member States Prepare your initiative and set up your citizens’ committee You wish to collect online? Get your system certified Get statements of support certified by Member States

How does it work? Verification Who? Competent authority of each member state where statements of support have been collected What? Statements of support online and on paper (Annex III) + Form (Annex V) When? Collection completed – one request per initiative per member state – before or after 12 month deadline How? “on the basis of appropriate checks, in accordance with national law and practice, as appropriate” – random sampling possible – free of charge How long? max. 3 months Why? Certificates obtained from authorities (Annex VI) to be sent by organisers to the Commission for the submission

How does it work? Collect statements of support in at least 7 Member States You wish to collect online? Get your system certified Register your initiative Get statements of support certified by Member States If the Commission decides to follow your initiative. The legislative procedure starts. Prepare your initiative and set up your citizens’ committee You have at least one million signatories? Submit your initiative to the Commission The Commission examines your initiative and replies

The first months of the ECI Current state of play: 23 requests for registration received 14 currently registered Using OCS: 12 (+2?) Hosted on the Commission’s servers: 7 (Hosting Agreements signed) + 3 interested Hosted on private service providers: 4 Certification obtained and online collection started: 3 (1 hosted on the Commission’s servers) 1 withdrawn by the organisers 7 rejected

Further information: http://ec. europa Point of contact for any questions: Europe Direct http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative/public/contact

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