State policies for development of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions from July 1, 2024 in Vietnam

State policies for development of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions from July 1, 2024 in Vietnam (Internet image)

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. State policies for development of artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions from July 1, 2024 in Vietnam

According to the provisions of Chapter II of the Law on Cooperatives 2023, support policies for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions are clearly stated as follows:

- Policies for development of human resources, information provision and consultancy

- Land policies

- Policies on taxes, fees and charges

- Policies on access to funding and insurance

- Policies for application of science and technology, innovation and digital transformation

- Policies on market access and research

- Policies for investment in development of infrastructure and equipment

- Policies for assistance in financial consultancy and risk assessment

- Policies for assistance in agricultural operations

2. Rules for implementing State policies for artels, cooperatives and cooperative unions

Pursuant to Article 17 of the Law on Cooperatives 2023, it stipulates the principles for implementing support policies as follows:

- Contents, subjects, procedures, resources, levels and results of assistance must be transparent and publicly disclosed.

- The implementation of State policies must be in line with the master program for development of collective economy, and appropriate to the State’s ability to balance its resources in each period.

- In case an artel, cooperative or cooperative union is eligible for multiple levels of assistance under the same policy within a given period as prescribed in of the Law on Cooperatives 2023 and relevant laws, it shall be entitled to the most favorable level of assistance.

3. What are the criteria for beneficiary selection?

According to Article 18 of the Law on Cooperatives 2023, the criteria for beneficiary selection are clearly stated as follows:

(1)A cooperative or cooperative union shall be eligible for assistance policies if meeting the following criteria:

- It is not serving any administrative penalty for committing the prohibited acts specified in Clause 2 Article 7 of the Law on Cooperatives 2023, or a Court’s criminal sentence in effect;

- It admits membership or increases internal transaction rate or develops undistributed fund/undistributed assets or provides education, training and re-training for its members and employees or is newly established in a disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged area as prescribed by laws;

- The auditor’s report is available, if required by the assistance policy.

(2) An artel shall be eligible for assistance policies if meeting the following criteria:

- It has a valid artel registration certificate;

- It is not serving any administrative penalty for committing the prohibited acts specified in Clause 2 Article 7 of the Law on Cooperatives 2023;

- It admits membership or provides education, training and re-training for its members and employees or is newly established in a disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged area as prescribed by laws.

(3) If there are multiple cooperatives and/or cooperative unions meeting the criteria laid down in Clause (1), or there are multiple artels meeting the criteria laid down in Clause (2), they shall be selected according to the following order of priority:

Number of members; number of members who are disabled persons; number of members who are ethnic minorities; number of members and employees participating in compulsory social insurance and those participating in voluntary social insurance; number of women executives, members and employees; area of operations (in disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged area); participation in value chain linkages and/or sectoral linkage clusters associated with green economy, circular economy, knowledge economy, organic agriculture, climate change adaptation and digital transformation for sustainable development; organization or participation in activities for benefits and interests of residential communities.

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

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