Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

AddedArticle 11 – paragraph 4: 4. Member States shall inform the persons concerned of the decision referred to in paragraph 1 and of the legal remedies referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 clearly in a timely manner, and in an official language of the Union understandable to them.

AddedArticle 12 – paragraph 1: 1. Member States shall designate a national authority with responsibility for taking the necessary measures to ensure that non-national Union citizens are informed in a timely manner of the conditions and detailed rules for registration as a voter or candidate in elections to the European Parliament as soon as they register as residents of a Member State of which they are not nationals, as well as periodically, ahead of European elections taking into account the deadlines established for the announcement of the lists of candidates. That information shall indicate that citizens have the choice to register in their Member State of residence or remain registered in their home Member State, according to their preferences. / The designated authority shall provide those concerned with a copy of the standardised templates for the formal declarations set out in Annexes I and II that non-national Union citizens are required to submit in order to register as voters or candidates.

AddedArticle 12 – paragraph 2 – point d a (new): (da) the specific measures taken to facilitate the exercise of the right to vote by vulnerable and marginalised groups of voters, such as persons with disabilities.

AddedArticle 12 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. Member States shall make efforts to actively involve civil society organisations in raising public awareness concerning the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, as well as in encouraging non-national Union citizens to actively seek such information as often as they need it. Member States should ensure that sufficient financial resources are set aside for this purpose.

AddedArticle 12 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 1: 3. The information on conditions and detailed rules for registration as a voter or candidate in elections to the European Parliament and the information referred to in paragraph 2 shall be provided in clear and plain language in accordance with the quality requirements set out in Article 9 of Regulation (EU)2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a. / 1a Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 2 October 2018 establishing a single digital gateway to provide access to information, to procedures and to assistance and problem-solving services and amending Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 (OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 1).

AddedArticle 12 – paragraph 3 – subparagraph 2: The information referred to in the first subparagraph shall be provided in an official language of the Union that is understandable to the Union voter or candidate in question. / (deleted)

AddedArticle 12 – paragraph 4: 4. Member States shall ensure that information on conditions and detailed rules for registration as a voter or candidate in elections to the European Parliament and information referred to in paragraph 2 are made accessible to vulnerable and marginalised groups, such as persons with disabilities, older persons, homeless people and persons in prison who enjoy their voting rights, by applying the accessibility requirements laid down in Annex I of Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council1a and by using appropriate means, modes and formats of communication, such as Braille, large print, audio-based information, tactile stencils, easy to read information and sign language. / 1a Directive (EU) 2019/882 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 on the accessibility requirements for products and services (OJ L 151, 7.6.2019, p. 70).

AddedArticle 12 – paragraph 4 a (new): 4a. Persons entitled to vote and stand as candidates pursuant to Article 3 and who have established their residence in a Member State, shall automatically receive information about their rights under this Directive. That information shall also be provided to them periodically and sufficiently ahead of the elections to the European Parliament.

AddedArticle 13 – paragraph 1: 1. Member States shall exchange the information required for the implementation of Article 4, sufficiently in advance of polling day. To that end, the Member State of residence shall begin supplying the home Member State, no later than 16 weeks before the first day of the electoral period referred to in Article 10(1) of the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage the set of information provided in Annex III. The home Member State shall, in accordance with its national legislation, take appropriate measures to ensure that its nationals do not vote more than once or stand as candidates in more than one Member State.

AddedArticle 14 – paragraph 1: Member States shall consider the introduction of complementary voting tools such as postal voting, advance physical voting, proxy voting, mobile polling stations for voters who are unable to go to the polling stations on election day and electronic and online voting, in elections to the European Parliament. Member States shall ensure the availability of those voting methods to Union voters under the same conditions as the ones applicable to their own nationals.

AddedArticle 15 – paragraph 1: Member States shall designate an authority with responsibility for collecting and providing to the public and the Commission relevant statistical data based on common indicators on the participation of Union citizens who are not nationals in elections to the European Parliament.

AddedArticle 16: deleted / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted) / (deleted)

AddedArticle 16 a (new): Article 16 a / The exercise of the right of non-national Union citizens to vote and stand as candidates in the elections to the European Parliament shall apply to all electoral lists and constituencies established by the Act concerning the election of the members of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage, including in the event of the establishment of a Union-wide constituency, in order to ensure that the principle of non-discrimination is upheld.

AddedArticle 17 – title: Data collection and reporting

AddedArticle 17 – paragraph 1: 1. Within six months after each election to the European Parliament Member States shall send information to the Commission on the application of this Directive in their territory. In addition to general observations, the report shall contain statistical data on the participation in elections to the European Parliament of Union voters and Union citizens entitled to stand as candidates and a detailed overview of the measures taken to support it, based on common indicators. Member States shall also provide detailed information on the effectiveness of exchanges among them to prevent double voting.

AddedArticle 17 – paragraph 2 a (new): 2a. The Commission is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 20 establishing a template and the form of the data to be collected for the purposes of paragraph 1 of this Article.

AddedArticle 18 – paragraph 1: Within 18 months after each election to the European Parliament, the Commission shall assess the application of this Directive and produce an evaluation report on the progress towards achievement of the objectives contained herein. The evaluation shall also include a review on the functioning of Article 13. The evaluation shall be followed, if appropriate, by a legislative proposal to amend this Directive.

AddedArticle 20 – paragraph 3: 3. The delegation of power referred to in Articles 9, 10 and 13 and Article 17(2a) may be revoked at any time by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.

AddedArticle 20 – paragraph 6: 6. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Articles 9, 10 and 13 and Article 17(2a) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed by the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the Council has informed the Commission that it will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the Council.

AddedAnnex I – row 4 a (new): Language preferences in which you want to receive information related to the elections.

AddedAnnex II – paragraph 4: I have not been deprived of the right to stand as a candidate in my home Member State1a. / 1a Only if also required from nationals of the Member State of residence

AddedNecessary to ensure coherence in the text.