Planning

Before launching an initiative, important practical aspects need to be considered, for example:

• Is it really purposeful to ask the Commission, to propose EU legislation?
• You must first form an organisers’ groupwith at least seven EU citizens from seven different EU countries. To do this, you need to find people across the EU who are willing to support your cause.
• How do you organise your campaign to collect signatures?

Via the Forum on the European Citizens' Initiativeyou can learn more about the subject and find valuable tips.

Further and more detailed information can be found on the Webseite of the European Union.

Register your initiative

Before you can start collecting signatures, you must apply to the Commission to register your initiative.

For this, you will need to:

• set up an organisers’ account. This account allows you to manage your initiative and keep in touch with the Commission throughout the procedure.
• provide a description of your initiative in one of the official EU languages(and information and documents on the organising group and sources of funding, etc.)

The Commission is not obliged to register all initiatives. It only registers initiatives that meet certain criteria.
After you have submitted your registration application, we will check whether your initiative can be registered.
You will receive the answer within 2 months (in exceptional cases within 4 months).
If we accept your registration application, your initiative will be published on this page.

Further and more detailed information can be found on the Webseite of the European Union.

Collect signatures

You need at least 1 million signatures and you
must meet certain thresholds in at least 7 EU countries.
Special forms shall be used to collect statements of support.

The collection takes place:

• on paper (pre-filled forms that you can download in your organiser account) or
• online (via the central online collection system).

These forms are available in all official EU languages.

Timetable

When everything is prepared for the collection of signatures, you need to set a start date
(no later than 6 months after the registration of your initiative) and notify the Commission 10 working days in advance of when you will start collecting.
Then you have 12 months to reach the minimum number of statements of support.

Who may sign?

The signatories must be:

• EU citizens (nationals of an EU country),
• old enough to vote in the European elections (16 years in some countries)

TIP – It is advisable to collect more signatures than you need. The authorities in each country may not validate all statements of support. When collecting signatures, you must comply with the respective Privacy Policy.

Further and more detailed information can be found on the Webseite of the European Union.

Unterschriften prüfen lassen

If you collect enough signatures within the 12-month period, you must sort them by nationality and send them for verification to the competent authorities in each EU country for verification.

You have 3 months to do this.

Within 3 months the authorities must check that all statements of support are valid (and issue you with a certificate to that effect).

TIP – If you use the Commission's central online collection system, you can also use our secure data exchange system to send the signatures collected on paper or online to the national authorities.

Further and more detailed information can be found on the Webseite of the European Union.

Submit initiative

Once you have received the final certification from all national authorities, you must submit your initiative to the Commission within 3 months and, at the same time, provide information on the sources of support and funding for your initiative.

Receive a reply

Once you have submitted your initiative, the evaluation of your initiative will begin

• Within one month
  
  You meet representatives of the Commission to discuss the contents of your initiative in detail.
• Within 3 months
  
  You have the opportunity to present your initiative at a public hearing in the European Parliament. Parliament may take up your case in a plenary session, which could eventually lead to a resolution to that effect.
• Within 6 months
  
  The Commission shall set out what follow-up action, if any, it will take and justify why it is taking action or excluding further action. This response takes the form of a communication formally adopted by the Commissioners and published in all official EU languages.

What happens next?

Legislation

If the Commission considers legislation to be appropriate in response to your initiative, it will prepare an appropriate proposal. This may require preparatorysteps such as public consultations and impact assessments. After adoption by the Commission, the proposal is submitted to the European Parliament and the Council (in some cases only to the Council), which must adopt it in order for it to enter into force as a legal act.

Other measures

The Commission is not obliged to propose legislation. Even if their response is positive, non-legislative measures may be more appropriate to respond adequately to your concerns. There are a number of other follow-up measures that may be more appropriate.

Follow-up

The measures taken by the Commission shall be examined, where appropriate, by the European Parliament.