The Treaty of Lisbon introduced a new way for citizens to participate in the development of the European Union's policies (EU) - the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). In accordance with the Treaty on European Union, the European Parliament and the Council adopted Regulation (EU) No. 211/2011 on 16 February 2011, which set out rules and procedures for this new mechanism for the first time. It aims to give EU citizens the opportunity to have a say in EU legislation.

In Regulation (EU) 2019/788 of 17 April 2019, the rules and procedures for European Citizens' Initiatives were revised, with the aim of making them more accessible and less bureaucratic for organisers and participants.

A successful citizens' initiative entitles the organisers of an ECI to call on the European Commission (COM) to, within the scope of its powers, submit suitable proposals to the legislature regarding issues that the organisers and EU citizens believe necessitate a legal act of the Union.

To get to this point, however, organisers first need the support of at least one million EU citizens from at least one quarter of EU Member States (currently seven Member States). The organisers have one year to collect the required number of statements of support.

Statements of support for European Citizens' Initiatives can not only be collected in paper form, but also electronically using an online collection system (OCS).

Since 1 January 2020, the Commission has provided a central online collection system for online collection, which European Citizens' Initiative organisers can use free of charge.

As an alternative to the central online collection system, organisers also have the option to collect statements of support online via individual online collection systems.

However, organisers may only collect statements of support for a citizens' initiative using an individual OCS if they first provide evidence to the relevant authority of the Member State in which the system is being operated, demonstrating that their individual OCS meets the (security) requirements of Regulation (EU) 2019/788 and obtain a certificate to that effect.

The authority responsible for issuing these certificates in Germany is the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

Before organisers can apply for this certification from the BSI and start collecting statements of support for a citizens' initiative, they are also required to register the citizens' initiative with the Commission, which determines whether the initiative is admissible.

At the end of a 12-month collection period, the organisers take the collected statements of support to the relevant national authorities in each of the Member States in which they were collected and submit them for review. The relevant authorities then confirm the number of valid statements of support within three months.

The authority responsible for reviewing statements of support and issuing certificates in Germany is the Federal Office of Administration (BVA).

Once the organisers have received this certification from the relevant national authorities confirming that they have collected the required number of valid statements of support (a total of one million and the minimum number in at least seven member states), they can submit their initiative to the Commission.

Within three months, the organisers are then given the opportunity to present their initiative to representatives of the Commission and - in a public hearing - to the EU Parliament. The Commission then publishes a formal response explaining whether it is proposing any measures - and if so, which measures it proposes - in response to the citizens' initiative and outlining the reasons for its decision, which may also be negative.

The Commission is not obliged to propose a legal act as a result of a citizens' initiative. However, if the Commission does decide to submit a legislative proposal in response to a citizens' initiative, this proposal is presented to the European legislature.

Links & more information

• The EU Commission online portal for the ECI: http://ec.europa.eu/citizens-initiative