1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

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

5. How does it work? Registration

7. 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

8. How does it work? Registration
The initiative is published

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

10. 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

11. How does it work? Collection on paper

14. 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)

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Further information: http://ec. europa
Point of contact for any questions: Europe Direct

22. Any questions ???