38.Section 12 makes provision about the petitions to which a petition scheme must apply. These are petitions which:
	request the authority to take action or cease taking action;
	are signed by at least the number of people specified in the petition scheme;
	are not made under any other enactment. Petitions made successfully under other statutory provisions – for example, a petition requiring a local authority to hold a referendum on executive arrangements, pursuant to regulations made under section 34 of the Local Government Act 2000 do not come within the petition scheme; and
	if made in electronic form, are made using the principal local authority’s e-petitions facility.
What amounts to “signature” for the purposes of an e-petition is a matter to be specified by authorities in their schemes. It may be, for example, that an authority will specify that entering an email address will constitute “signature” for this purpose.
Commentary Background Summary and Background Section 12 – Petitions to which a scheme must apply