Conditions for becoming members and member cooperatives in Vietnam

Conditions for becoming members and member cooperatives in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is a cooperative?

According to Clause 1, Article 3 of the Cooperative Law 2012, a cooperative is a collective economic organization with co-owners and legal entity status, established voluntarily by at least 7 members who cooperate with and assist one another in production, business or job creation activities to meet their common needs on the basis of autonomy, self-responsibility, equality and democracy in management of the cooperative.

2. Conditions for becoming members and member cooperatives in Vietnam

2.1. Conditions for becoming a members of a cooperative in Vietnam

Specifically, in Clause 1, Article 13 of the Cooperative Law 2012, individuals, households and legal entities that wish to become members of a cooperative must meet the following conditions:

- Individuals are Vietnamese citizens or foreigners lawfully residing in Vietnam, are 18 years or older, have full civil act capacity; households have a lawful representative as prescribed by law; an agency or organization is a Vietnamese legal entity.

For a job creation cooperative, its members are individuals only;

- Having needs for cooperation with other members and for using products and services of the cooperative;

- Filing an application for voluntarily joining the cooperative and agreeing with its charter;

- Contributing capital as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 17 of this Law and the cooperative’s charter;

- Other conditions as prescribed by the cooperative’s charter.

2.2. Conditions for becoming a member of a union of cooperatives in Vietnam

A cooperative wishing to become a member of a union of cooperatives must meet the following conditions:

- Having needs for cooperation with other member cooperatives and for using products and services of the union of cooperatives;

- Filing an application for voluntarily joining and agreeing with the charter of the union of cooperatives;

- Contributing capital as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 17 of the Cooperative Law 2012 and the charter of the union of cooperatives;

- Other conditions as prescribed by the charter of the union of cooperatives.

(Clause 2, Article 13 of the Cooperative Law 2012)

3. Rights and obligations of members and member cooperatives in Vietnam

3.1. Rights of members and member cooperatives in Vietnam

Members and member cooperatives have the following rights:

- To be supplied with products and services by their cooperative or union of cooperatives under service contracts.

- To receive incomes distributed in accordance with this Law and the charter.

- To enjoy benefits of their cooperative or union of cooperatives.

- To attend or elect deputies for attending general meetings of members or member cooperatives.

- To vote the contents within the rights of the general meeting of members as prescribed in Article 32 of this Law.

- To self-nominate or nominate others as members of the Board of Directors, the Control Board or controller and other elected positions of their cooperative or union of cooperatives.

- To propose and request the Board of Directors, Director (General Director), Control Board or controller to explain the operation of the cooperative or union of cooperatives; to request the Board of Directors, Control Board or controller to convene an extraordinary general meeting of members in accordance with this Law and the charter.

- To be provided with necessary information relating to the operation of their cooperative or union of cooperatives; to receive supports in training, retraining and improvement of operational skills for activities of their cooperative or union of cooperatives.

- To leave their cooperative or union of cooperatives as prescribed by the charter.

- To be returned contributed capital upon leaving their cooperative or union of cooperatives in accordance with this Law and the charter.

- To receive the remaining divided value of assets of their cooperative or union of cooperatives in accordance with this Law and the charter.

- To lodge complaints and denunciations and initiate lawsuits in accordance with law.

- Other rights as prescribed by the charter.

(Article 14 of the Cooperative Law 2012)

3.2. Obligations of members and member cooperatives in Vietnam

According to Article 15 of the Cooperative Law 2012, the obligations of members and member cooperatives are as follows:

- To use products and services of their cooperative or union of cooperatives under service contracts.

- To contribute fully and in due time capital as committed under the charter.

- To take responsibility for debts and financial obligations of their cooperative or union of cooperatives within the scope of contributed capital in their cooperative or union of cooperatives.

- To pay compensations for damages caused by themselves to their cooperative or union of cooperatives as prescribed by law.

- To comply with the charter and regulation of their cooperative or union of cooperatives, resolutions of the general meetings of members or member cooperatives and decisions of the Boards of Directors of their cooperative or union of cooperatives.

- Other obligations as prescribed by the charter.

Thanh Rin

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