Cooperative member’s right to receive information

Abstract

Among the cooperative member’s rights special attention should be paid to the right to receive information about operations of a cooperative. A general provision concerning this right can be found in Cooperatives Law Act of September 16, 1982 (CL). According to Article 18 § 2(3) of the latter, a member of a cooperative has the right to receive copies of the constitutional document and the rules and regulations of the cooperative, as well as the right to read resolutions passed by the cooperative bodies, minutes of cooperative body meetings, vetting reports, annual financial statements and agreements executed between the cooperative and third parties, without prejudice to Article 81.1 of Housing Cooperatives Act of December 15, 2000 (HCA). CL’s Article 18 § 2 (3) provides a right to receive copies of the constitutional document of the cooperative and its rules and regulations, as well as the right to read resolutions passed by the cooperative bodies, minutes of cooperative body meetings, vetting reports, annual financial statements and agreements executed between the cooperative and third parties. On the other hand, HCA’s Article 81. 1- 3 provides only the right to receive copies of the constitutional document of the cooperative and its rules and regulations, resolutions passed by the cooperative bodies, minutes of cooperative body meetings, vetting reports, annual financial statements, invoices and agreements executed between the cooperative and third parties. It also states which documents, save for invoices and agreements, should be posted on the website of the cooperative concerned. Amendments to the legislation within the above mentioned scope were introduced chiefly by an Act of June 14, 2007. Justified concerns of both legal and technical nature of those amendments have been raised both in literature and the case-law. It has not been indicated correctly, precisely and clearly whether cooperative members have only the right to receive copies of documents, or whether they also have the right to see originals of those documents personally, or whether CL’s Article 18 § 3 applies to cooperative members, finally what is the meaning of ‘third party’ with whom the cooperative executes an agreement.