OCS 1.5 is the latest release of ECI Online Collection Software. More information is available in the tab Interoperability Solutions.

The Online Collection Software is now available!

The first release of the Online Collection Software has been launched today.

This software has been developed by the European Commission in application of Regulation (EU) No 211/2011 on the citizens' initiative.

It has therefore been designed for organisers of European Citizens' Initiatives in order to help them build their online system to collect signatures. It will also facilitate the certification of their system by the competent national authority as it already complies with the relevant requirements of Regulation (EU) No 1179/2011 laying down technical specifications for online collection systems.

This software consists of:

• a public interface which allows signatories to submit their statement of support to the proposed citizens' initiative via an online form;
• an administration interface which offers organisers functionalities to manage their collection and ultimately export the collected statements of support for verification by the competent national authorities.

It also includes a cryptography tool which allows the offline decryption of the data collected.

As the first initiatives cannot be launched before 1^st April 2012, we invite potential organisers to test this first version. Feedbacks are welcomed as well as proposals for improvement.

We recommend future organisers to wait for new releases that will improve the current version before 1^st April. We encourage keeping up with all updates that will be available on this website  (http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/software/ocs/home) and through our news letter

It is important to mention that organisers cannot ask for the certification of their online collection system by the competent national authority before 1^st April 2012.

Save the date !

A presentation of this software will be made during the conference on the citizens' initiative which will take place on 26 January 2012 in Brussels. This conference will be hosted by Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission.

For further information on this conference and on the European Citizens' Initiative:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/citizens_initiative