European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI)

—

I am writing to you to ask for your support and assistance with a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) calling for mandatory clothing labels which reflect the working conditions of the people who make each garment.

At present I need to create a Committee with representatives from 7 member states, and am wondering of you would be willing to be on the Committee. I will attempt to undertake as much of the administrative work myself, but need help with publicity and promotion.

My online petition on Change.org has over 400 signatures just from publicity on my website, and my local newspaper recently featured an article about me and the campaign. The petition has also had support and promotion from a number of ethical fashion bloggers including Ms Wanda’s Wardrobe, Style Is… and Miss Beau Bangles. Greens MEP Keith Taylor has also offered his support following his involvement with the ECI calling for an 8 hour limit to live animal transport, which reached 1.1 million signatures.

With the anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse I am hoping there will be renewed interest in ethical clothing manufacture.

Please find an outline of the proposed ECI below:

An ECI is an invitation to the European Commission to propose legislation on matters where the EU has competence to legislate. It has to be backed by at least one million EU citizens, coming from at least 7 out of the 28 member states. A minimum number of signatories is required in each of those 7 member states.

The rules and procedures governing the citizens’ initiative are set out in an EU Regulation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in February 2011.

No ECI addressing this issue has yet been registered.

Before I can start collecting statements of support from citizens, I have to register the ECI. This involves providing the following information:

• the title of the proposed citizens’ initiative: Living wage clothes labels
• the subject-matter: Mandatory clothing labels which indicate to consumers whether the garment workers who made the item were paid a living wage
• the objectives of the proposed citizens’ initiative on which the Commission is invited to act:

1. to create legislation which enforces mandatory labelling of each individual garment sold within the EU. Labels would inform consumers whether the factory in which their item of clothing was made pays their workers a living wage. (Consumers cannot currently differentiate between clothing made in sweatshops and clothing made in factories where living wages are paid, and clothing retailers are under no obligation to provide this information);
2. to educate and inform consumers about the provenance of their clothing;
3. to give consumers a choice whether they buy clothing made in sweatshops.

• the provisions of the Treaties considered relevant by the organisers for the proposed action: Living wage clothes labels satisfy Article 169 which states that EU consumer policy priorities include promoting citizens’ rights to information and education.
• personal details of the 7 required committee members (full names, postal addresses, nationalities and dates of birth), indicating specifically the representative and his/her substitute as well as their e-mail addresses and telephone numbers: I am currently seeking committee members.
• documents that prove the full names, postal addresses, nationalities and dates of birth of each of the 7 members of the citizens’ committee: I am currently seeking committee members.
• all sources of funding and support for the proposed citizens’ initiative (known at the time of registration) worth more than €500 per year and per sponsor: The ECI helpdesk recommends securing €100,000 before launch to cover staff, translation, office equipment, online services, signature collection, advertising, printing, phones and postage. I am currently a self-funded individual, willing to work on a voluntary basis and absorb my own costs. I hope to avoid incurring excess costs by involving NGO’s and other support groups who are willing to donate their time and services.

There is also the option to provide:

• the address of a website for the proposed initiative
  
• an annex (maximum 5 MB) with more detailed information on the subject, objectives and background to the proposed citizens’ initiative
• a draft legal act (maximum 5 MB).

I am keen to develop these items with help and advice from other committee members, but have not done so yet. I do, however run an ethical clothing campaign through my website, Diamondsanddaisychains.com and could provide a section there for the ECI. Having looked at a number of current open initiatives, I feel a website, annex and draft legislation would add value and interest.

I would love to hear your feedback on the ECI and whether you are interested in being on the Committee. It would also be very helpful to know if there are other NGO’s you would be prepared to work with if I were to approach them for support.

Regards

Kate Seamark

Originally published on diamondsanddaisychains.com