openPetition
| openPetition | |
|---|---|
|
|
| legal form | profit company |
| founding | 2010 |
| Seat | Berlin |
| main emphasis | Politically neutral, open platform to promote simpler, more effective, more transparent citizen participation & lived democracy. |
| method | Petitions, campaigns, citizens' groups |
| Action space | Europe with focus on Germany, Austria and Switzerland. |
| people | Jörg Mitzlaff (founder and managing director), 9 permanent employees, 1 volunteer helper |
| Members | Over 1.2 million visitors and 2.55 million page views per month. Over 6 million newsletter subscribers. |
| Website | www.openPetition.de |
openPetition is an open internet platform for online petitions aimed at decision-makers from politics, business and society. openPetition accompanies people in starting petitions, carrying them out in public and handing them over. The aim of openPetition is to promote democracy and citizen participation by means of online petitions and to contribute to a transparent citizen-political dialogue. In addition, the organization is also campaigning for a more effective right to petition in Germany and Austria, and since 2019 has been offering municipalities a community-owned petition system called the openDemokratie-Tool free of charge.
The platform has been online since 2010 and, according to its own information, has 6.2 million users (June 2019). openPetition is non-profit, funded by donations, transparent and politically neutral. In 2019, 2,308 petitions were published via the platform. More than 4.4 million people took part in openPetitions with one signature. In addition, 2,644 opinions were submitted by MPs on petitions that had previously reached the openPetition quorum. According to the company, a petition every other day with which people participate on the platform is a success. A total of 19.3 million signatures were collected between the start of the petition platform and the end of 2019.
founding
The founder of openPetition, Jörg Mitzlaff, was active in the association Mehr Demokratie and wanted to create a more effective, digital tool for political participation with openPetition. In order to set up the petition platform, the software developer took a year off from his previous job in 2009. Together with other experts, he programmed the petition software that year. In the years up to 2012, openPetition was operated as a voluntary project.
After openpetition.de went online in April 2010, Mitzlaff took up a full-time job again and looked after the petition page in his spare time. In June 2012 Jörg Mitzlaff and the Campact association founded the openPetition non-profit GmbH with Jörg Mitzlaff as managing director. openPetition gGmbH is based in the House of Democracy and Human Rights in Berlin.
Financing and structure
The operator is openPetition gGmbH . Because of the promotion of education, promotion of the democratic state system and promotion of civic engagement it is recognized by the tax office Berlin for corporations I (tax number 27/602/56641) as non-profit. The 11-person organization is financed through small donations from users.
openPetition supports the “Transparent Civil Society Initiative” launched by Transparency International Germany in June 2010 . There are currently no uniform publication requirements for non-profit organizations in Germany. openPetition has committed itself to publish information about goals, sources of funds, use of funds and decision-making processes in accordance with the guidelines of the initiative and therefore publishes an annual and transparency report online every year.
aims
openPetition is committed to the simplification and further development of the instruments of participatory democracy. The aim is to educate people about political decision-making processes, promote civic engagement and advise, accompany and support people in creating, disseminating and submitting online petitions on their own petition platform. The organization remains politically neutral. According to the company, the open platform is the largest dialogue platform in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland), so far available in 15 languages and has the vision of strengthening participation across Europe.
Values and way of working
According to the petition , each the right to his request in the form of a request, complaint or proposal in the Committee on Petitions submitted. openPetition helps people to make use of it. OpenPetition has the right to political neutrality and is committed to transparency. Signatures can not only be collected via the platform, but also via widget integration on other websites and via offline signatures on sheets of paper. OpenPetition is the only platform that has a quorum for regions in Germany and partly also for Austria. If this regional relevance threshold is reached with signatures, the organization asks the competent parliament of a region for an opinion and then publishes it. OpenPetition thus contributes to a transparent dialogue between citizens and politics.
privacy
Both the organization and the servers of openPetition are based in Germany and are therefore subject to the Federal Data Protection Act , the Telemedia Act and the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All data transfers to the servers are encrypted with SSL.
Selection of petitions
| Period | Signatures | content |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 300,000 | GEMA tariff reform: The GEMA had planned a tariff reform in 2013, which would have led, according to operators of clubs and discos to enormous additional costs for them. Music enthusiasts feared a "club death". Matthias Rauh's online petition against the GEMA tariff reform received more than 300,000 signatures and was handed over to Justice Minister Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger together with various cultural initiatives. A few days later, GEMA announced that it would suspend the planned reform for 2013. |
| 2013 | 57,000 | Release of Gustl Mollath: Gustl Mollath wrongly spent seven years in the closed psychiatry . Mollath had been acquitted in 2006 in a criminal trial for incapacity . In the German media, the case has been the focus of attention since November 2012, as Mollath's allegations of black money turned out to be partly justified and criticism of the proceedings was increasingly voiced. The petition launched in March 2013 for Mollath's release received 57,000 signatures. On August 6, 2013, the Nuremberg Higher Regional Court ordered Mollath's immediate release. |
| 2013 | 95,000 | Seed diversity: A petition with reference to the planned EU seed regulation warns of the interests of the seed industry at the expense of the diversity of seeds in agriculture. The petition was initiated jointly by the campaign for seed sovereignty , the umbrella organization for the diversity of cultivated plants and animals, and the association for the preservation of the diversity of useful plants . |
| 2015 | 33,437 | ESC participation: A petition related to the decision of ARD to revise the singer Xavier Naidoo as German representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 . Instead of the singer, the German punk band Die Kassierer für Deutschland will compete. The petition was initiated by the Ruhrbarone blog . |
| 2016 | 128.007 | Pro model flying: Due to an amendment to the law, model flying was threatened. People were able to support the cause not only on openPetition, but also via widgets on other websites. In the end, the Pro Modellflug association was able to significantly influence the reform of the law and protect model flying. |
| 2017 | 45,519 | New edition of the English test: within 48 hours of the petition being drawn up by a student, the responsible ministry of education reacted and complied with the petition's request to repeat the test under fair conditions. |
| 2017 | 50,494 | Bivsi: With the help of the petition, attention was drawn to the deportation of a 14-year-old girl in North Rhine-Westphalia, who was born and grew up in Germany. Demonstrations and a benefit concert were held. The Parliament's Petitions Committee complied with the petition and the Foreign Office subsequently issued the return visa. |
| 2017 | 430,000 | The non-smoking law must remain: The Austrian Cancer Aid launched its petition to the ÖVP and FPÖ via openPetition, which overturned the non-smoking law during coalition negotiations. The petition is the largest on the petition platform so far. |
| 2018 | 65,000 | Right of petition 4.0: The petition was launched by openPetition itself and is part of the campaign for a modernization of the right of petition in Germany. Over 65,000 people signed the petition for more dialogue, more digital participation. |
| 2018 | 13,216 | Abolition of road expansion contributions: people would have had to pay a five-digit amount out of their own pocket if public roads in Brandenburg were to be renovated. Thanks to the efforts of the 70-year-old petition starter from Schönefeld, first a petition and then a referendum was initiated - with success: the Brandenburg coalition decided to abolish it. |
| 2018 | 11,509 | Against the planned Noise Protection Ordinance in Switzerland: Concerts and events were threatened by the planned reform and artists were financially burdened. In a dialogue with politicians, industry representatives have found a solution together. |
| 2018 | 55,692 | Abolition of daycare fees in NRW: Education should be free, so the reasoning. Thanks to the petition, two years of daycare became free. |
| 2019 | 120,000 | Save the baths! Stop swimming pool closings! The German Life Saving Society (DLRG) was publicly heard with its petition “Save the Baths” with 120,000 signatures in the Petitions Committee and invited to the Bundestag as experts. So far, a golden master plan has been agreed between municipalities, states and the federal government. |
| 2020 | 120,000 | Saving tattoo inks : An EU ban threatens 66% of all tattoo inks. A decision on the petition from the politicians is still pending, but the openPetition quorum of 50,000 signatures was cracked within the first day, so that comments were requested. |
Web links
- openPetition homepage
- Annual and transparency reports from openPetition
- "Petitions as a tool for low- threshold citizen participation" In: eNewsletter Network Citizen Participation 04/2018 of December 17, 2018.
- “What you need to know about online petitions” In: butenunbinnen, April 5, 2019
- "OpenPetition - more direct democracy through online participation", presentation of openPetition at eIDEE - competition for the digital handshake
- Lars Sobiraj: openPetition im gulli: Interview. In: gulli.com, April 24, 2013.
- "Petitions 2012: Between mood and expression of will" - u. a. about openPetition , from the yearbook Netzpolitik 2012 from netzpolitik.org (PDF; 2.9 MB, pp. 88–94)
Individual evidence
- ↑ openDemocracy - More dialogue, more digital participation . ( opdemokratie.de [accessed on January 2, 2018]).
- ↑ The openDemocracy tool. Retrieved June 25, 2019 .
- ^ Anne-Katrin Hochstrat: Co-determination by petition - Karben is a pioneer in digital citizen participation. In: Hessenschau.de . June 7, 2019, accessed June 25, 2019 .
- ↑ The quorum on openPetition. In: www.openpetition.de. April 7, 2017, accessed September 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Success with petitions. In: www.openpetition.de. March 3, 2020, accessed March 4, 2020 .
- ↑ openPetition: About us.
- ↑ Transparency. In: www.openpetition.de. Retrieved June 25, 2019 .
- ↑ The quorum on openPetition. In: www.openpetition.de. April 7, 2017, accessed January 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Data protection. In: www.openpetition.de. Retrieved January 2, 2018 .
- ↑ https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/gegen-die-tarifreform-2013-gema-verliert-augenmass
- ^ Gema implements controversial tariff reform from Sueddeutsche, December 20, 2012.
- ↑ Free now! - The Gustl Mollath case. In: Deutsche Welle online. August 7, 2013, accessed September 13, 2013 .
- ↑ Mollath and his supporters - How a case mobilizes the citizens. In: sueddeutsche.de. June 20, 2013, accessed September 13, 2013 .
- ↑ “His freedom is also our freedom”. In: sueddeutsche.de. July 28, 2013, accessed September 13, 2013 .
- ↑ OLG Nuremberg: Press release 12/13 corrected version
- ↑ Petition “Justice for Gustl Mollath” on openPetition
- ↑ Seed diversity petition
- ↑ Petition ESC participation
- ↑ Mr. Transport Minister: Hands off my hobby! Petition for the receipt of the model flight - online petition. Retrieved January 2, 2018 .
- ↑ New edition of the central examination 10 in the subject English - online petition. Retrieved January 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Bivsi and her parents should go back to Germany - online petition. Retrieved January 2, 2018 .
- ↑ We call on ÖVP and FPÖ: The non-smoking law must remain! - online petition. Retrieved January 2, 2018 .
- ↑ Right to petition 4.0 - more dialogue, more digital participation - online petition. Retrieved January 2, 2018 .
- ↑ News on the petition “Save the baths”. Retrieved January 27, 2020 .
- ↑ petition "#Tattoofarbenretten 2020". Retrieved January 27, 2020 .