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An Act to Implement Regulation (EU) 2019/788 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Citizens’ Initiative

Passed 16.12.2019

§ 1.  Minimum age for supporting citizens’ initiatives

  Any citizen of Estonia who is at least 16 years of age has a right to support a citizens’ initiative by signing a statement of support.

§ 2.  Assistance offered to groups of organisers

 (1) The contact point that is mentioned in paragraph 6 of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2019/788 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European citizens’ initiative (OJ L 130, 17.05.2019) (hereinafter, ‘Regulation on the European citizens’ initiative’) and that, in accordance with applicable European Union and national law, offers, free of charge, information and assistance to groups of organisers mentioned in Article 5 of the Regulation on the European citizens’ initiative is the Ministry of the Interior.

 (2) The Ministry of the Interior may conclude, in accordance with the rules and under the conditions provided in the Administrative Cooperation Act, an administrative contract with a private legal person for performance of the tasks of the contact point.

§ 3.  Verification and certification of statements of support

 (1) The authority that is mentioned in paragraph 5 of Article 12 of the Regulation on the European citizens’ initiative and that is to arrange the verification and certification of statements of support is the Ministry of the Interior.

 (2) Statements of support are verified based on particulars supplied in Annex III of the Regulation on the European citizens’ initiative, comparing these to the data in the Population Register. Statements of support may be verified on a random sampling basis.

 (3) The Minister in charge of the policy sector enacts, by regulation, detailed rules for verification and certification of statements of support.

§ 4.  Certification of conformity of individual online collection systems

 (1) Until 31 December 2022, the duties of the competent authority that is mentioned in paragraph 3 of Article 11 of the Regulation on the European citizens’ initiative and that is to certify the conformity of an individual online collection system to paragraph 4 of Article 11 of that Regulation are carried out by the Data Protection Inspectorate.

 (2) When verifying the security requirements that the individual online collection system is to meet, the Data Protection Inspectorate proceeds in cooperation with the Information System Authority.

§ 5.  Repeal of Acts

  The Act to implement Regulation (EU) No 211/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European citizens’ initiative is hereby repealed.

§ 6.  Entry into force of this Act

  This Act enters into force on 1 January 2020.