Online service for citizens' initiatives is opened on 1 December
The online service of the Ministry of Justice for launching citizens' initiatives and collecting statements of support will be opened on Saturday, 1 December (in the afternoon). The service is available at the address www.kansalaisaloite.fi. The service offers citizens a possibility to have their initiative considered by the Parliament.
The new online service is free of charge, accessible and safe to use. It is available in Finnish and Swedish. Statements of support may be collected via this service also for such initiatives for which the collection has already been started in other online services or on paper. In future, it will also be possible to submit initiatives to municipal authorities via the service.
The Ministry of Justice checks that the initiatives submitted by citizens contain the required information and that they do not contain such material that is not suitable for publication on the Internet. Thereafter, the collection of statements of supports may be started. Initiatives are checked at the Ministry of Justice on weekdays during office hours, starting next Monday. This means that initiatives cannot yet be supported in the online service during this weekend. Questions concerning the launching of citizens' initiatives will be answered by e-mail and in the social media (Facebook).
The opening of the new service is timed for the beginning of December, because the provisions concerning the online service of the Ministry of Justice enter into force then. The service has been developed in open interaction and cooperation with different organisations. The service is supplied by IT service company Solita.
The online service will be made available in the e-participation environment Otakantaa.fi, which provides and gathers together several online services related to civic engagement. The project for the Finnish eParticipation Environment is part of the Action Programme on eServices and eDemocracy (SADe) coordinated by the Ministry of Finance.
A bill or a proposal to start a bill drafting process
At least fifty thousand Finnish citizens entitled to vote have the right to submit an initiative for the enactment of an act to the Parliament. A citizens' initiative may include either a bill or a proposal that a bill drafting process should be started. An initiative may also concern amending or repealing an effective act.
Signatures supporting a citizens' initiative, i.e. statements of support, must be collected within six months. They shall be collected either electronically online or on paper. A specific form certified by the Ministry of Justice must be used for the collection of statements of support in paper form.
Launching of an initiative and collection of statements of support online always require so-called strong e-identification, for example the use of online bank codes or a mobile certificate provided by teleoperators.
Further information:
- Project Manager Teemu Ropponen, tel 050 520 9340, [email protected]
- Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority: Deputy Manager Aki Tauriainen, tel. 09 696 6624 or 040 521 1542, [email protected]
- Population Register Centre: Information Services Manager Timo Salovaara, tel. 09 2291 6551 or 050 344 3111, [email protected]