Petitions committee

By means of a written request, citizens can ask the House of Representatives to investigate whether the central government has done its job properly relating to a matter in which they are personally involved. By means of a citizens' initiative, citizens can put an issue on the agenda of the House of Representatives. The Committee on Petitions and Citizens' Initiatives checks whether a written request or citizens' initiative meets the requirements and advises the House of Representatives on how to deal with the matter.

Written request

A written request or individual petition relates to an individual case in which the petitioner believes the central government has acted incorrectly. The petitioner must have a personal interest in the case. In other words: the matter concerns the petitioner alone and therefore may not involve criticism of a law or a policy issue, or a decision made by the government about someone else. When a citizen has submitted a written request, the committee will consider whether to initiate an investigation into the case.

Citizens' initiative

A citizens' initiative is a proposal to the House of Representatives to examine an issue. The proposal must relate to the making, altering or withdrawal of statutory provisions or to government policy.

The citizens' initiative is one of the most direct ways to make it clear to MPs how to improve society, for instance when it comes to improving the environment, education or public transport. The citizens ask the House to take a position on the issue.

A citizens' initiative has to meet a number of requirements. It must be a new proposal, i.e. something the House has not yet had under consideration. Moreover, 40,000 expressions of support are needed.

About the committee

Members of the Committee on Petitions and Citizens' Initiatives are MPs from various parliamentary groups. They meet about once per month. The committee meetings are not public due to the privacy-sensitive nature of much of the information discussed. For the same reason, many meeting documents are also not made public. However, the reports issued by the committee about petitions and citizens' initiatives are made public. The committee publishes an annual report every year.