What is Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll.?

Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll., on Agricultural Cooperatives — Act on Agricultural Cooperatives.

When it became Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll. effectiveness?

Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll. became effective 15.05.1990.

Is Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll. still valid?

Yes, Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll. is still valid and effective.

Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll. - Act on Agricultural Cooperatives

162

THE LAW

of 3 May 1990

on agricultural cooperatives

The Federal Assembly of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic decided on this law:

ČÁST PRVNÍ

HLAVA PRVNÍ

General provisions

§ 1

Purpose of the law

The purpose of the Act is to regulate the status, legal circumstances and principles of the operation of agricultural cooperatives ("cooperatives') and other agricultural cooperatives.

§ 2

Cooperative

(1) The cooperative is a voluntary association of citizens (hereinafter referred to as "members") who jointly operate agricultural production, food production, other economic and other activities and to satisfy and promote their interests. They manage on agricultural land and also in the forests, water areas and ponds of the fish they use.

(2) The cooperative is a legal person; is not liable for other legal entities' obligations.

(3) Cooperative matters are managed by members through members' meetings and elected bodies of the cooperative in accordance with generally binding legislation, the statutes of the cooperative and other internal cooperative rules.

(4) The cooperative shall operate independently and on its own account; taking on an appropriate economic risk.

§ 3

The formation of the cooperative

(1) A cooperative should be established

(a) a resolution setting up meetings on its establishment;

(b) the adoption of the statutes of the cooperative,

(c) the election of the cooperative authorities.

(2) The cooperative may acquire rights and undertake obligations from the date of registration in the company register.

(3) The application for registration of the cooperative in the company register is submitted by the cooperative; the proposal must be accompanied by the statutes of the cooperative and the resolution establishing meetings on its establishment.

(4) An activity for which authorisation is required under specific rules may be carried out by the cooperative only with such authorisation.

§ 4

Statutes of cooperatives

(1) The Articles of Association (hereinafter referred to as "the Statutes') are the basic internal rules. The statutes shall contain:

(a) the name of the cooperative which must explicitly state that it is a cooperative;

(b) the seat of the cooperative;

(c) the object of the cooperative's activities;

(d) provisions on the establishment and termination of membership, on the rights and obligations of members, as well as on the procedure against members who fail to fulfil their duties;

(e) provisions on the amount and method of determining the amount of a member's interest or, where applicable, the basic member contribution or other participating interests, the types and methods of their creation and use, the evaluation and, where appropriate, the amortisation, the way in which they are subscribed (transfer) and their settlement at the end of membership,

(f) the manner and extent of liability of the member for any loss of the cooperative;

(g) more detailed provisions on the cooperative bodies, their composition, their duration, their choice and decision-making as to who organises and manages the cooperative's normal activities (§ 16 (5), § 22);

(h) provisions on the care of members - pensioners and the provision of conditions for the social and occupational use of members with altered working capacity.

(2) Statutes must not be contrary to this law and other generally binding legislation.

(3) The statutes and their amendments are attached to the application for registration in the company register.

§ 5

Property of the cooperative

(1) The property of the cooperative means the property of the cooperative and the property rights acquired by the cooperative.

(2) The assets of the cooperative are created by the association of members' funds (subscriptions, membership shares, deposits, material benefits and other valuable intangible, tangible and financial deposits) and from the results of the cooperative's activities and, where appropriate, from other sources. Property may be withdrawn from the cooperative only in cases provided for by law.

§ 6

Management of the cooperative

(1) The cooperative shall meet its needs and the cost of revenue derived mainly from its activities and from other sources.

(2) The cooperative pays taxes and levies on its profits. The remaining profit is used separately by the cooperative and cannot be withdrawn.

(3) Departures from basic resources remain in full to the cooperative and are used separately by the cooperative.

(4) The cooperative may issue bonds to finance its development; the manner in which they are issued, handled and evaluated shall be determined and announced by the Member States in accordance with generally binding legislation.

(5) The cooperative may also manage the property of other legal persons or citizens under a contract concluded in accordance with generally binding legislation.

Termination of the cooperative

§ 7

(1) The members' meeting may be decided to cancel the cooperative with or without liquidation. The cooperative shall cease to exist on the date of its removal from the company register.

(2) The cooperative shall cease to exist without liquidation by merging, merging or splitting.

(3) The cooperative to which the assets and liabilities of the deceased cooperative have been transferred must immediately notify other legal entities affected by the loss of the cooperative, the disappearance of the cooperative and the transfer of its assets and liabilities; the liquidator has this obligation on liquidation.

§ 8

Merge and Merge

(1) The assets and liabilities of the merged cooperative are transferred to the acquiring cooperative.

(2) When cooperatives are merged, their assets and liabilities shall be transferred to the newly created cooperative on the date on which the newly created cooperative was registered.

(3) The members of the deceased cooperatives become members of the acquiring and, where appropriate, the newly created cooperative.

§ 9

Breakdown

(1) The members of the divided cooperative shall determine how the cooperative is to be distributed, how its assets and liabilities are to be distributed.

(2) The cooperative shall also be divided if a minority of its members so request who are interested in forming a cooperative under this law.

(3) The split cooperative shall cease to exist and its assets and liabilities shall be transferred to the new cooperative on the date on which it was entered in the company register to the extent specified by the membership meeting of the split cooperative. On that date, members of the divided cooperative shall become members of the new cooperative.

Elimination of the cooperative

§ 10

(1) Where a member's meeting decides to abolish a cooperative with liquidation, it shall establish a liquidator.

(2) The draft registration of the cooperative entering the liquidation and the liquidator of the cooperative shall be submitted by the cooperative.

(3) The date on which registration in the register referred to in paragraph 2 was carried out shall, except for a member meeting, cease the functions of all the cooperative bodies.

§ 11

(1) The liquidator is entitled to act on behalf of the cooperative in matters relating to liquidation.

(2) The liquidator shall immediately inform the cooperative of the entry into liquidation of all organisations, bodies and other persons affected by this.

(3) At the date of the start of the liquidation, the cooperative shall draw up the financial statements and financial statements and transmit them to the liquidator.

§ 12

(1) Within one month of its establishment, the liquidator shall draw up an opening balance sheet and submit it to the member meeting together with the liquidation plan, the winding-up budget and the inventory of the extraordinary inventory of the economic resources carried out at the date of commencement of the liquidation.

(2) In particular, the liquidator in the course of liquidation

(a) concentrate money on one account with one money institution;

(b) complete normal matters relating to the cooperative's activities;

(c) make the best possible use of the assets of the cooperative or otherwise in accordance with generally binding legislation;

(d) satisfy, in turn, the proceeds of the liquidation of the State in respect of contributions, taxes and charges, the claims of members and staff of the cooperative, including the settlement of members' shares and other property deposits (participation of members), and repay the funds granted to the cooperative from State resources for investments in the five years preceding the liquidation and satisfy the other claims.

§ 13

(1) The liquidator shall draw up the accounts at the end of the liquidation and submit it together with a final report on the liquidation and a proposal for the distribution of any liquidation surplus for approval by the Member States.

(2) The surplus shall be distributed to members according to their membership shares or their equity contributions.

(3) The liquidator shall make an application for the removal of the cooperative from the company register and ensure the safe deposit of the file material and accounting documents for the period laid down in the special regulation.

HLAVA DRUHÁ

Cooperative authorities

§ 14

The authorities of the cooperative are

(a) a membership meeting;

(b) the Board of Directors,

(c) the Audit Committee;

(d) other cooperative bodies under this Act and the Statutes.

§ 15

Members' meeting

(1) The highest body of the cooperative shall be the membership meeting at which members exercise their right to decide on the matters of the cooperative.

(2) The members shall meet within the time limits laid down by the Statutes, at least once a year.

(3) A meeting of members must be convened if at least one third of all members of the cooperative or monitoring committee so request in writing, as well as in the other cases referred to in the Statutes.

(4) The members' meetings of the cooperative include:

(a) adopt and amend the Statutes;

(b) elect and dismiss members of the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee;

(c) approve the annual accounts, the distribution and use of profits and, where appropriate, the method of payment of losses;

(d) decide on major changes in the soil fund;

(e) decide on the division, merger, merger and abolition of the cooperative.

(5) The members' meeting shall decide on other matters relating to the cooperative and its activities, where provided for in this law, the statutes or, where appropriate, the decisions which it has reserved for itself, and those matters are not entrusted by law to other cooperative bodies.

(6) The statutes of cooperatives may stipulate that member meetings shall be held in the form of partial member meetings.

(7) If it is not possible to call a membership meeting in view of the size of the cooperative, the Statutes may determine that the assembly (assembly, conference) of delegates elected by the members of the cooperative shall be convened instead of the membership meeting. At the same time, the Statutes will determine the detailed terms and conditions for the selection of delegates.

§ 16

Board of Directors

(1) The Board of Directors shall direct the activities of the cooperative and shall decide on all matters, unless otherwise reserved for another body by this law, statutes or decisions of the member meeting. The member meeting shall be responsible for its activities.

(2) The Board shall ensure and monitor the implementation of the resolutions of the members of the meeting, regularly report to it on its activities and on the activities of the cooperative; convene a membership meeting and prepare its meetings.

(3) The board meets as needed, usually once a month. It shall meet within 10 days of receipt of the initiative of the Audit Committee, if the deficiencies have not been remedied at its request.

(4) The Board of Directors shall elect from among its members the Chairman of the Cooperative (Board) or, as the case may be, the Vice-Chair (Vice-Chairs), unless the Statutes determine that they are elected by membership.

(5) The Chairman of the Cooperative as Chairman of the Board of Directors shall organise and manage the Board's deliberations. If the statutes so determine, they also organise and manage the normal activities of the cooperative [§ 4 (1) (g)].

§ 17

Audit Commission

(1) The Audit Board is entitled to control all activities of the cooperative; discuss the complaints of its members and, where the statutes so determine, the staff. It shall correspond only to the members' meeting and shall be independent of the other bodies of the cooperative.

(2) The Audit Board shall comment on the annual accounts and on the proposal for the distribution of profits or the reimbursement of losses of the cooperative.

(3) The findings of the deficiencies are highlighted by the Audit Board of the relevant head of the organisation units and the cooperative authorities and require correction.

(4) The Audit Committee shall meet as necessary, at least once every three months.

(5) The Supervisory Committee shall elect a chairman or vice-chairman from among its members, as appropriate, unless the Statutes determine that they are elected by a member meeting.

Common provisions on cooperative bodies

§ 18

(1) Only members of the cooperative older than 18 years of age may vote and be elected or established in the bodies of the cooperative.

(2) The functions of the board member and member of the Audit Board are incompatible. Other cases of incompatibility of functions are determined by this law or by the statutes.

(3) The term of office of the elected members of the cooperative shall be five years, unless the statutes determine a shorter term of office; However, the elected authorities shall remain in office until the new authorities are elected.

§ 19

(1) The members' meetings, the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee are eligible for a quorum if an absolute majority of all their members or delegates are present.

(2) The resolution, including the elections of the co-operative authorities, is adopted if the majority of the members present voted for them, unless otherwise provided for by this law.

(3) The resolution on the adoption of the statutes and their amendments and on the demise of the cooperative (§ 7) requires the consent of an absolute majority of all members or delegates, except in the cases referred to in § 9 (2).

(4) The details of the elections of the cooperative's bodies, their conduct and the verification of the minutes shall be laid down in the Rules of Procedure; the arrangements for its approval are laid down in the Statutes.

§ 20

In a cooperative which has fewer than 50 members ("the small cooperative '), the statutes may stipulate that the responsibilities of the Board of Directors and the Audit Board shall be performed by a member meeting which shall elect a chairman from among the members of the cooperative and, where appropriate, a deputy chairman.

§ 21

Statutory authority

(1) The statutory authority (1) of the small cooperative (§ 20) is the President. For other cooperatives, the statutes shall determine whether the statutory body is the chairman or the board of directors. Where the statutory body is the Board of Directors, it shall determine the rules on how it acts externally.

(2) The Board of Directors shall decide on the award of procures2.

§ 22

Director

(1) The Statutes may determine that the normal activities of the cooperative are organised and managed by the Director appointed and dismissed by the Board of Directors. This is without prejudice to the scope of the Cooperative Board.

(2) The status, activity and tasks of the Director shall be determined by the Statutes.

§ 23

Internal organisation of the cooperative

The internal organisation of the cooperative shall be governed by the rules of organisation and, where appropriate, other internal organisation regulations. The internal organisational unit of the cooperative shall not itself be designated as a cooperative.

HLAVA TŘETÍ

Composition

§ 24

Establishment of membership

(1) The terms of membership are laid down in the law and statutes. A member of a cooperative where membership is a work relationship may become a citizen who has reached 15 years of age and has completed compulsory education.

(2) Unless otherwise specified in the Statutes and the cooperative does not agree with the member on the date on which membership arises, membership shall arise on the basis of an application submitted by a decision of the Board of Directors on its acceptance; in cases where membership is part of a working relationship, membership arises on a date agreed as the date of taking up work in a written agreement on working conditions (hereinafter referred to as the "Working Conditions Agreement ').

(3) A probationary period of up to 3 months may be agreed in an agreement on working conditions. The agreed trial period cannot be extended. During the probationary period, both the cooperative and the member may at any time cancel membership in writing without giving any reason. The test period shall be agreed in writing, otherwise its negotiation shall be void.

(4) The duration of obstacles to work for which a member is unable to take part in the cooperative during the probationary period shall be counted against the probationary period of no more than 10 working days.

§ 25

Fundamental rights and obligations of the cooperative member

(1) A member shall enjoy the following fundamental rights:

(a) participate in the management and control of the cooperative's activities, directly or through the elected authorities;

(b) vote and be elected to the cooperative's bodies;

(c) submit proposals to improve the cooperative's activities, make comments and questions to the cooperative's authorities and be informed of their execution;

(d) to participate in the benefits which the cooperative grants to its members under the Statutes and generally binding legislation.

(2) The Member has the following basic obligations:

(a) comply with the statutes and comply with the resolutions of the cooperative bodies;

(b) to pool resources within the scope of the statutes or the law;

(c) to guarantee any loss of the cooperative in accordance with the statutes;

(d) consolidate and develop cooperative economies, protect and enhance the assets of the cooperative.

(3) Where membership is part of a working relationship, a member shall also have the right and obligation to work under the agreed conditions.

(4) Each member shall have one vote when deciding on a cooperative body, including elections.

§ 26

Termination of membership

(1) Membership of the cooperative shall cease to exist

(a) the Agreement;

(b) performance,

(c) exclusion;

(d) deaths;

(e) the destruction of the cooperative by liquidation.

(2) In a cooperative where membership is a work relationship, membership also ceases to exist

(a) cancellation during the trial period;

(b) by an immediate appearance,

(c) cancellation.

§ 27

Agreement

(1) If the cooperative and member agree to terminate membership, membership ends on the agreed date.

(2) The agreement on termination of membership is concluded in writing by the cooperative and by the member. At the request of a member, it shall state the reasons for the termination of membership. A copy of the termination agreement shall be issued by the cooperative to the member.

§ 28

Performance

(1) A member may withdraw from the cooperative on the basis of a written declaration for any reason or without giving a reason. Membership shall expire six months. This period shall begin on the first day of the calendar month following the receipt of the member's written declaration to the cooperative.

(2) The suspension may be withdrawn by a member only in writing and with the consent of the cooperative.

§ 29

Exclusion

(1) The Board of Directors may decide to exclude a member,

(a) where he has been lawfully convicted of an intentional offence committed against a cooperative, its property or in connection with the execution of a cooperative's work;

(b) if he has seriously or repeatedly infringed his or her membership obligations laid down by law or statutes.

(2) The Board of Directors may decide to exclude a member only within two months of the date on which it established the reason for the exclusion, but not later than one year from the date on which that reason arose.

(3) Where the conduct of a member in which the grounds for exclusion referred to in paragraph 1 (b) can be seen is subject to an investigation by another authority, the period of two months referred to in paragraph 2 shall begin on the date on which the cooperative became aware of the outcome of the investigation.

(4) The decision to exclude a member from the cooperative shall state the reason referred to in paragraph 1 which cannot be amended retrospectively; the membership shall cease on the date on which the decision of the Board of Directors on the exclusion of the member has been delivered.

§ 30

Instant performance

(1) A member may withdraw from the cooperative immediately,

Citation	Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll., on Agricultural Cooperatives
Regulation Type	-
Author	-
Collection	Code of Laws

Date of Promulgation	10.05.1990
Effective from	15.05.1990
Effective until	-
Status	Valid

Act No. 162 / 1990 Coll.

Act on Agricultural Cooperatives

Contents