Petition

A petition (Latin petitio, petition ',' request ',' input '; education terminology also address) is a letter ( a petition, a request, a complaint ) to a competent authority, such authority or parliament. It is helpful to distinguish between requests, aimed at the control of a general political subject matter (eg, decision or amendment of a law by Parliament, the modification of a procedure in a public authority) and complaints to remedy an individually experienced injustice ask ( although a formal permissible, but perceived as disproportionate decision by the authorities, for example ). The submitter of a petition is called petitioner. The admissibility of petitions is a generally accepted part of the democratic rights of every citizen.

Right to petition

As a right to petition the right is called to send a command to all agencies and departments, to be heard and to fear no disadvantages in the sequence.

Germany

Federal law

In Germany, the right to petition is a fundamental right in Article 17 of the Basic Law (GG) is firmly established:

"Everyone has the right individually or in writing that in community with other requests or complaints to the competent authorities and to the legislature. "

The German Bundestag has a separate Petitions Committee.

Other relevant regulations are:

• Article 17a GG - Possible limitation of the right of petition (civil servants must comply with the official channels in service matters, limited right to petition for military or alternative service )
• Article 45c of the Basic Law - Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag

A petition within the meaning of the Basic Law must be in writing and indicate the sender. The input plate has a right to demand that his petition is received and granted. However, he only has the result be communicated, are entitled to a hearing or the right to petition grounds are not according to the law of the Federal Constitutional Court.

On April 22, 1953 decided to the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfGE 2, 225 - online):

" 1 The fundamental right under Article 17 of the Basic Law gives the person who submits a valid petition, a right that the problem addressed point the input is not only accepts, but also objectively verified and the petitioner states in writing at least the way the cases. 2 Who is summoned properly to a valid petition has when he again mounts the same petition to the same place, no entitlement to substantive examination of and decision. "

Since 1 September 2005, it is possible to submit an online petition over an Internet form to the Petitions Committee of the German Bundestag. At the same time Public Petitions have been introduced.

Where a petition is within 4 weeks after receipt of 50,000 or more people ( in public petitions, the period from the publication on the Internet included) supported, publicly discuss it a rule in the Petitions Committee. The petitioner is invited to this consultation and gets right to speak.

State law

The respective state constitutions grant the petition of the citizen, such as in Article 115 of the Bavarian constitution. Inputs to a state parliament are treated either by the Petitions Committee of the parliament or the Committee professionally competent.

Administrative Law

There are also the much less attention right to appeal to an authority or to another "competent " public body. Questioning any authority of the State or of indirect state administration, so each authority of local authorities ( for example, the health department, the Office of Education or the immigration authorities ) comes just as social service providers ( health insurance companies, trade associations, providers of basic security benefits for job -seekers and the like) or state " Entrusted " (such as the TÜV or Dekra ), but also political bodies, such as the local mayor, the district or the state Chancellery of the State Government.

Sets up the appropriate place with the petition not apart, you can force this on the administrative courts. If the petition collected from a non-authorized site, it must be forwarded to the appropriate office.

The control function of the national parliaments and the Bundestag against the respective governments is, however, rarely used in the petitions to the competent authorities. In Bremen for a means of reporting duty of the Senate is tested to the citizenry.

Distinguish it from other legal process

The input to the President with respect to an early release from prison called for clemency and is not to be confused with a petition.

Petition in the GDR

In the GDR, were the only way for the people to defend themselves against state arbitrariness due to the of 1952 to mid-1989 lack of administrative justice and the lack of individual right of action against the administrative decisions entries. However, the petitioner had no legal right to fulfill their cause. The historian Beatrix Bouvier therefore referred to the input being in the GDR as pre-modern. The at least formal processing of the input within a four-week period was guaranteed in § 7 of the Act entering the GDR. A special feature of the GDR was that a command could also be directed to SOEs, socialist co-operatives and other institutions and thus virtually the entire economy was included. The input should serve as conflict resolution between citizens and the state.

Switzerland

. In the Federal constitutional right to petition in Art 33Vorlage is: Art / Maintenance / ch- search guarantees. The public authorities are required is to take cognizance of the petition, but do not go into it. Nevertheless, the concerns of petitions be noted answered and considered.

This historic law lost in the legislative process, although important, as the political rights since the introduction of the petition in the early 19th century soon have expanded it to a binding initiative and referendum binding. The law is still not to be underestimated, because even foreigners, minors or legal persons may submit petitions. This can be submitted by any person suggestions, criticisms or complaints; this request to the authorities are also referred to as inputs.

European Union

As early as 1953 had the predecessor of the European Parliament - the Common Assembly of the ECSC - provides for the possibility of the petition in its Rules of Procedure, and thus every citizen be granted the right to bring his case in this way. Up to the direct elections in 1979 However, this has very little use has been made. Between 1958 and 1979 a total of 128 petitions were filed. Was it, for example, in the years 1978-1979 about 20 petitions were filed in 2004 were, however, already filed 1002. With the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty (1 November 1993) was included in the right to petition the European Treaties. According to Article 194 of the EC Treaty legal and natural persons (living) based in the EU have the right to petition the European Parliament. Prerequisite: The subject of the petition must fall within the competence of the EU and the petitioners are directly affected. The right of petition is also guaranteed in Article 44 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

In the petition, an individual request, a complaint or comment on the application of EU law or an appeal to the European Parliament are set to take a position on a specific matter. Such petitions give the European Parliament the opportunity to respond to violations of the rights of a citizen of the Union by a Member State or an EU institution.

Petitions can be submitted in writing by mail or online at the website of the European Parliament, or by e -mail. Every year, go to the European Parliament approximately 1,000 petitions. Some of these are also dealt with in Parliament plenary. 2006 addressed the Parliament on the basis of two petitions to the case of fallen into liquidity problems Equitable Life Assurance Society even a special committee which examined this for over a year.

In contrast to the now constant number of petitions, the number of Mitzeichner these petitions has increased significantly. In the election period of 1984-1989 about 5.5 million people have supported petitions during 1994-1999 there were already 10 million people in the period, who co-signed a petition. In the period 1999-2004, several petitions have exceeded the figure of a million Mitzeichnern.

Effects

The political implementation of a Petition content is legally reserved in most countries, with the non-binding. The treatment of the content depends on a small number of committee members from over often thousands of supporters. The further treatment as an issue in the Parliament is also not binding.