The purpose of the cooperative's rules is to indicate to the cooperative members and creditors, in addition to the Co-operatives Act, how the cooperative’s administration and the rights and obligations of the members have been determined. Please note that the rules are binding.
When setting up a cooperative, you can take advantage of Pellervo Coop Centre’s guide for the founder of a cooperative (in Finnish).
The rules can be very concise. As a minimum, they may contain only the following information:
- cooperative’s name
- domicile in a Finnish municipality
- line of business.
The minimum-scope rules are not always suitable even for very small cooperatives, so it is usually best to draw up more extensive rules. If you wish to derogate from the provisions of the Co-operatives Act, derogations from the rules must be posted in the rules. The rules can also include provisions of the Co-operatives Act to clarify the cooperative’s operations. In practice, it is usually best to draw up more extensive rules.
You can record in the rules, for example, provisions of the cooperative’s
- representation rights
- meetings
- number, tasks and selection of members of the Board of Directors
- Managing Director
- Supervisory Board
- shares and the possible nominal value
- division of the surplus
- changes to the rules
- any parallel company names.
All matters related to the cooperative’s operations not agreed upon in the rules, will be resolved in accordance with the Co-Operatives Act.
Draw up the cooperative’s rules in writing and attach them to the cooperative's start-up notification. You can find a template for the rules in the start-up package compiled by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office.
The rules should be established carefully at the start-up stage, as any subsequent changes must be approved by a majority of 2/3 of the voters.