The European Commission has today registered a European Citizens Initiative (ECI) inviting the Commission to propose a ban on glyphosate.
The initiative will be formally registered on 25 January. It wants to reform the pesticide approval procedure and to set EU-wide mandatory reduction targets for pesticide use.
This registration will start a one-year process of collection of signatures in support of the proposed ECI by its organisers.
ECIs were introduced with the Lisbon Treaty and launched as an agenda-setting tool in the hands of EU citizens in April 2012.
Once formally registered, an ECI allows one million citizens from at least one quarter of EU Member States to invite the European Commission to propose a legal act in areas where the Commission has the power to do so.
If – and only if – a registered ECI receives the signatures of one million validated statements of support from at least seven Member States, the Commission must decide whether or not it would act, and explain the reasons for that choice.
