Austria’s citizens‘ petition for a THC threshold stands at 8,716 declarations of support, with a year-end deadline approaching. The figure of 100,000 circulates frequently in debate, but a vastly different—and much smaller—number is actually decisive for the next step.
📑 Inhaltsverzeichnis
Since May 9, 2025, the initiative „THC Threshold Adjustment“ has been collecting declarations of support. We reported on the launch in our coverage of the citizens‘ petition for a THC threshold in road traffic. Now there’s a new update, and it’s a good opportunity to explain the process clearly. How an Austrian citizens‘ petition actually works remains poorly understood, even among those actively following it.
The Official Status
The Interior Ministry’s current statistics show 8,716 declarations of support for the petition, against 6,310,218 eligible voters. In the same statistics, entries show zero.
This zero is no error—it’s central to the process. Declarations of support and entries are two separate things that occur at different stages in Austria. The petition is still entirely in phase one.
The Number That Actually Matters Isn’t 100,000
The 100,000 signatures repeatedly mentioned in discussion represent a real threshold, but it belongs to phase two. A different figure applies to the current step.
According to Section 3, Subsection 2 of the Citizens‘ Petition Act, an initiative petition must be supported by one per mille of the population recorded in the last census. The Interior Ministry currently lists this threshold as 8,969 persons. Only once these declarations are reached can the initiative submit the petition for proceeding. When they do so is their own decision.
There’s a discrepancy worth noting. The initiative’s current statement calculates a threshold of 8,401 declarations and considers this surpassed. According to the officially stated value of 8,969, approximately 250 declarations remain outstanding. The difference exists because the threshold is tied to the resident population figure and thus variable. The Interior Ministry ultimately determines which value applies in the actual proceedings.
For assessment purposes, the more important message is this: even in the less favorable scenario, the petition is short by roughly 250 signatures for the next procedural step—not over 91,000.
Why Year-End Is Actually a Real Deadline
There’s no statutory deadline for collecting signatures themselves, which initially makes a cutoff date sound like campaign rhetoric. In this case, it isn’t. Two regulations converge on year-end.
- Registration expires. Registrations for citizens‘ petitions with no initiative petition filed must be deleted by December 31 of the year following registration. Since this petition was registered in 2025, registration expires December 31, 2026.
- Declarations age out. According to Section 3, Subsection 2, declarations of support are only valid if municipal confirmation wasn’t issued before January 1 of the year preceding the petition filing. For a petition filed in 2026, declarations collected in 2025 remain valid. For one filed in 2027, they wouldn’t.
Combined, this means: the initiative petition must be filed by end of 2026, otherwise the initiative starts over. What’s needed by then are the declarations for initiating proceedings—not 100,000.
What Happens Next
Once the initiative petition is submitted and approved, the Interior Ministry sets an eight-day entry period. Entries occur during these eight days, and only then comes the actual decision.
Important for those who’ve already signed: submitted declarations of support count toward the total signature count. Those signing now needn’t take action again during the entry period. If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures total, including earlier declarations, it’s transmitted to Parliament for debate.
This warrants clear-eyed assessment often missing from petitions and citizens‘ initiatives. Parliament must address the matter. It needn’t implement it. A citizens‘ petition forces parliamentary consideration, not legislative change. This is no trivial effect—it places an issue on the agenda that might otherwise pass by. But it’s also no automatic outcome.
How Realistic Is This?
Context helps with assessment. Austria currently has roughly 36 to 40 citizens‘ petitions simultaneously in the support phase, ranging from breeding bans for certain dog breeds to restricting private fireworks to social media bans for under-sixteens. Attention is scarce, and the initiation threshold represents the real barrier for most initiatives.
After roughly sixteen months of collection, this petition is close to the initiation threshold but hasn’t clearly surpassed it. Whether this translates to 100,000 entries in phase two remains an open question that can’t be inferred from current progress: the entry period operates differently than months-long collection because it compresses public attention into eight days.
The Issue Behind the Procedure
Regardless of the petition’s outcome, the underlying question persists. Austria has no defined THC threshold for road traffic to this day. In practice, this amounts to zero tolerance, even though formally a medical officer must establish impairment.
Because THC and its metabolites remain detectable for days after use depending on consumption patterns, a positive result can occur even when no impairment exists. We’ve thoroughly examined what a positive preliminary test actually proves—using roadside checks after a festival as an example—in our article on what preliminary tests really prove. Those particularly affected are people prescribed cannabis as medicine, unable to conduct their therapy without license consequences.
Comparison with Germany illustrates the difference. Since August 2024, Germany has had a statutory limit of 3.5 nanograms THC per milliliter blood serum. Whether this threshold is correctly calibrated remains professionally debated. But it creates a verifiable baseline for those affected and authorities alike. This baseline is precisely what the petition demands for Austria, complete with its own legislative proposal. For the complete Austrian legal overview, see our summary of legal status, penalties, and medical use.
Where to Find the Official Status
Those wishing to track the procedure themselves can find current statistics for all registered citizens‘ petitions at the Interior Ministry. Full petition texts and procedural details are also available there. Declarations of support can be submitted at any municipal office during business hours or online using ID Austria.
For further reporting, the next observable milestone is clearly defined: will an initiative petition be filed by end of 2026, and will the Interior Ministry set an entry period? Both are officially documented and thus verifiable. We’ll be monitoring this.
Note: This article reflects the status of September 3, 2026 and constitutes neither legal nor health advice. Hanf Magazin collects no signatures and has no involvement with this initiative. Procedural status comes from the Interior Ministry’s current statistics, procedural information from the Citizens‘ Petition Act and oesterreich.gv.at. The responsible authority determines which signature count is decisive in actual proceedings. For questions about driver’s licenses and driving fitness in individual cases, only legal counsel can help.
Sollte das THC-Volksbegehren in Österreich deiner Meinung nach Erfolg haben?
Sources: Interior Ministry current statistics on the „THC Threshold Adjustment“ citizens‘ petition (status September 3, 2026); Citizens‘ Petition Act 1973, Section 3 Subsection 2; oesterreich.gv.at on citizens‘ petitions, declarations of support, and initiation procedures; petition registration text from May 9, 2025; statement from „THC Threshold Adjustment“ initiative dated September 3, 2026; own reporting.
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