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The European Commission is actively following up to the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) 'Stop finning – Stop the trade,' which asked the Commission for action to end international trade of loose shark fins. 

From January 2025, the Commission will step up monitoring of shark product trade thanks to 13 new tariff codes for sharks and their fins. These codes will enable the tracking of the most traded shark species.

The Commission has also completed the consultation stage of its impact assessment on a trade ban on detached fins and a range of alternative policy measures, conducted in response to the ECI. Find out more on the EU sharks’ protection and management page.

Danish citizens can now use their eID (‘MitID’) to support European citizens' initiatives online. Denmark is the 19th EU country enabling the use of a national eID system for signing European citizens' initiatives. Check the status for all EU countries. 

Since the Commission replied to the ‘Fur Free Europe’ initiative in December 2023, it has been working on several accompanying actions. On-site visits to fur farms to explore the ‘One Health’ controls in place happened in Finland and more recently in Poland and Spain. A Survey on fur animals was addressed to Member States authorities, to help collect factual information and data that will feed into a Commission assessment of actions mentioned in the Communication. The Commission has also been preparing a revision of the Textile Labelling Regulation, including a stakeholders’ workshop that took place in October.  

On 17 September, the European Commission published a call for evidence on animal testing in chemical safety assessments and Commission roadmap to phase it out.

The development of such roadmap is one of the commitments made by the European Commission in response to the European citizens’ initiative ‘Save Cruelty-Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’. The roadmap should include milestones and specific actions to further reduce animal testing and ultimately transition to an animal-free regulatory system under relevant pieces of chemical legislation.

The call for evidence aims to seek expertise on non-animal testing in chemical safety assessments and particularly submissions that synthesise the current state of knowledge in relevant fields. In addition, outreach to stakeholders continues through a series of workshops (in December 2023, October 2024 and May 2025).

On 11 September the European Commission decided to register two European citizens' initiatives.

The aims of the ‘ECI for a Water-Smart and Resilient Europe' initiative include: an action plan for water; elevating water resilience to the same priority as decarbonisation; shifting towards water-efficient industry and agriculture; ensuring the right skills for a water-smart economy and the right to clean and safe water and sanitation.

The organisers of the ‘PsychedeliCare' initiative call on the Commission to support expert consensus on psychedelic care standards and the rollout of psychedelic therapies. The initiative also urges the Commission to boost research into the therapeutic applications of psychedelics and the development of research networks.

These initiatives are the tenth and eleventh initiatives registered in 2024. The organisers now have six months to open the signature collection. 

On 24 July the European Commission decided to register two European citizens' initiatives.

The ‘Stop Cruelty Stop Slaughter’ initiative calls for incentives for producing plant proteins, including plant-based milk and egg substitutes, as well as cultivated meat. The organisers also call for reducing the number of farm animals and progressively closing all animal farms.

The ‘Stop Fake Food: Origin on Label’ initiative calls for measures that ensure European consumers’ access to transparent information about the food they buy, as well as clear and explicit labelling of the origin for all products and for adherence to environmental, health and labour standards in the internal market.

These initiatives are the eighth and ninth registered in 2024. The organisers have now six months to open the signature collection. 

With the start of the 2024-2029 European parliamentary term on 16 July 2024, the revised Annex I to the ECI Regulation became applicable. It sets out new minimum numbers of signatories per Member State (‘thresholds’). These thresholds are linked to the number of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). As the number of MEPs increased from 705 to 720 in the new term, the thresholds increased as well. For an ECI to be examined by the European Commission, it must collect at least one million valid signatures and obtain these minimum numbers of valid signatures in at least seven EU countries. 

These new minimum numbers apply to ECIs registered by the Commission on or after 16 July 2024. The new minimum numbers do not apply to ECIs registered before 16 July 2024 for which the previous thresholds continue to apply.

On 19 June the European Commission decided to register two European citizens' initiatives.

The ‘Air-Quotas’ initiative calls for a citizens’ carbon quota mechanism in each country that would encourage businesses to decarbonise through consumer demand. The organisers consider that it should cover all purchases of goods and services, starting with air transport. 

The ‘Stop Destroying Videogames’ initiative calls for a requirement for publishers of videogames in the EU to leave such games in a functional (playable) state, so to prevent their remote disabling.

These initiatives are the sixth and seventh registered in 2024. The organisers have now six months to open the signature collection. 

On 13 May the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled 'Save the Planet by shifting taxation from labour to greenhouse gas emissions’. It calls on the Commission to strengthen the Fit for 55 Package and the EU carbon pricing system and for the redistribution of a substantial part of carbon pricing revenues to low-income households, strengthening the EU’s Social Climate Fund and promoting the establishment of a ‘Climate Club’ for countries wishing to adopt more robust carbon pricing.

This is the fifth initiative registered in 2024. The organisers have six months to open the signature collection. 

On 10 April the Commission registered a European citizens' initiative entitled  'My Voice, My Choice: For Safe And Accessible Abortion'. It calls on the Commission to submit a proposal for financial support to Member States for enabling safe termination of pregnancies for anyone in Europe who lacks access to safe and legal abortion.

This is the fourth initiative registered in 2024. The organisers have six months to open the signature collection.