Regulation (EU) 2019/788 (ECI Regulation) on the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) stipulates that ECI organisers need the support of at least one million EU citizens from at least seven Member States in order to call on the EU Commission to propose a concrete legal act.

The required statements of support can not only be collected in paper form, but also electronically using a central online collection system (OCS) operated by the EU Commission, which is available to ECI organisers free of charge.

If, alternatively, the organisers of an ECI opt to use an individual OCS, the ECI Regulation stipulates that, before starting the collection process, they must obtain certification from the relevant national authorities confirming that their OCS has the security and technical features required under the ECI Regulation.

The authority responsible for issuing this certification is always the authority of the Member State in which the data collected using the individual OCS is stored. The responsible authority in Germany is the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).

ECI organisers can submit an application to the BSI requesting the issuance of the relevant certification for the individual online collection systems they will be operating. The certification process is documented in the process descriptionpublished by the BSI.