Does the regulation of agri-food cooperatives meet their needs? Study of the historical evolution and current situation of their regulation

Abstract

This paper aims to provide an overview of the cooperative regulations affecting agri-food cooperatives and their historical evolution, especially since the General Law on Cooperatives. It will start by looking at the origin of agri-food cooperatives and the different stages through which their regulation has passed, in order to focus on the analysis of the current legal regime governing this type of cooperative. Unlike what happens in other legal systems, where agri-food cooperatives are endowed with a specific regulation that covers their legal regime, in Spain the choice of the legislator, both at national and regional level, has been to include them within the general cooperative laws. Thus, the corresponding regional or national cooperative law regulates in detail the legal corporate regime of cooperatives: incorporation, economic regime, rights and obligations of members, etc.; and then distinguishes between the different types of existing cooperatives, among which agri-food cooperatives can be found. As a result, there are only one or a few more articles aimed at regulating the special features of agri-food cooperatives, which is insufficient. These special features include the activities they can carry out, who can be a member, some accounting aspects, the regulation of sections, greater scope for transactions with non-member third parties, the provision in the bylaws for plural voting, etc. It should be borne in mind that not all Spanish cooperative laws regulate the same aspects or in the same way, which is why their analysis and comparison is the raison d'être of this paper.