Bei grossen Gesetzen wie OR und ZGB kann dies bis zu 30 Sekunden dauern

Section Four: Dissolution and Resignation

Art. 821  

A. Dis­sol­u­tion

I. Grounds

 

1 A lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pany must be dis­solved:

1.
if ground for dis­sol­u­tion stated in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation ap­plies;
2.
if the mem­bers’ gen­er­al meet­ing so re­solves;
3.
if bank­ruptcy pro­ceed­ings are com­menced;
4.
in the oth­er cases provided for by the law.

2 If the mem­bers’ gen­er­al meet­ing re­solves to dis­solve the com­pany, the res­ol­u­tion must be done as a pub­lic deed.

3 Any com­pany mem­ber may re­quest the court to dis­solve the com­pany for good cause. In­stead of dis­sol­u­tion, the court may opt for an al­tern­at­ive solu­tion that is ap­pro­pri­ate and reas­on­able for the per­sons con­cerned, such as the pay­ment of a fin­an­cial set­tle­ment to the com­pany mem­ber re­quest­ing dis­sol­u­tion com­men­sur­ate with the true value of his cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tion.

Art. 821a  

II. Con­sequences

 

1 The rel­ev­ant pro­vi­sions on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis to the con­sequences of dis­sol­u­tion.

2 The dis­sol­u­tion of a com­pany must be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister. Where dis­sol­u­tion is ordered by the court, the court must no­ti­fy the com­mer­cial re­gister without delay. Where dis­sol­u­tion is on oth­er grounds, the com­pany must no­ti­fy the Com­mer­cial Re­gister.

Art. 822  

B. Resig­na­tion of com­pany mem­bers

I. Resig­na­tion

 

1 A com­pany mem­ber may ap­ply to the court to for leave to resign for good cause.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may grant com­pany mem­bers the right to resign and make this sub­ject to cer­tain con­di­tions.

Art. 822a  

II. Fol­low-up resig­na­tions

 

1 Where a com­pany mem­ber files an ac­tion for leave to resign for good cause or a com­pany mem­ber tenders his resig­na­tion based on a right of resig­na­tion un­der the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation, the man­aging dir­ect­ors must no­ti­fy the oth­er com­pany mem­bers without delay.

2 If oth­er com­pany mem­bers with­in three months of re­ceipt of such no­tice file an ac­tion for leave to resign for good cause or ex­er­cise a right of resig­na­tion un­der the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation, all de­part­ing com­pany mem­bers must be treated equally in pro­por­tion to the nom­in­al value of their cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tions. Where ad­di­tion­al fin­an­cial con­tri­bu­tions have been made, the value there­of must be ad­ded to the nom­in­al value.

Art. 823  

III. Ex­clu­sion

 

1 Where there is good cause, the com­pany may ap­ply to the court for the ex­clu­sion of a com­pany mem­ber.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may provide that the mem­bers’ gen­er­al meet­ing com­pany may ex­clude mem­bers from the com­pany on spe­cif­ic grounds.

3 The reg­u­la­tions on fol­low-up resig­na­tions do not ap­ply.

Art. 824  

IV. In­ter­im meas­ures

 

In pro­ceed­ings re­lat­ing to the with­draw­al of a com­pany mem­ber, the court may at the re­quest of a party or­der that in­di­vidu­al or all mem­ber­ship rights and ob­lig­a­tions the per­son con­cerned be sus­pen­ded.

Art. 825  

V. Fin­an­cial set­tle­ment

1. En­ti­tle­ment and amount

 

1 Where a com­pany mem­ber leaves the com­pany, he is en­titled to a fin­an­cial set­tle­ment that re­flects the true value of his cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tions.

2 Where the com­pany mem­ber leaves by ex­er­cising a right of resig­na­tion un­der the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may ad­opt dif­fer­ent pro­vi­sions on com­pens­a­tion.

Art. 825a  

2. Pay­ment

 

1 The fin­an­cial set­tle­ment be­comes due for pay­ment when the com­pany mem­bers leaves, provided the com­pany:

1.
has dis­pos­able equity cap­it­al;
2.
is able to dis­pose of the cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tions of the de­part­ing mem­ber;
3.
is en­titled to re­duce its nom­in­al cap­it­al in com­pli­ance with the rel­ev­ant pro­vi­sions.

2 A li­censed audit ex­pert must es­tab­lish the ex­tent of the dis­pos­able equity cap­it­al. If this is in­suf­fi­cient to pay the fin­an­cial set­tle­ment, he must state his opin­ion on the ex­tent to which the nom­in­al cap­it­al could be re­duced.

3 The former com­pany mem­ber holds a non-in­terest-bear­ing sub­or­din­ate rank­ing claim in re­spect of any por­tion of the fin­an­cial set­tle­ment that is not paid out. This be­comes due for pay­ment to the ex­tent that dis­pos­able equity cap­it­al is de­clared to be avail­able in the an­nu­al re­port.

4 For as long as the fin­an­cial set­tle­ment has not been paid in full, the former com­pany mem­ber may re­quest that the com­pany ap­point an ex­tern­al aud­it­or and ar­range for an or­din­ary audit of the an­nu­al ac­counts.

Art. 826  

C. Li­quid­a­tion

 

1 Each com­pany mem­ber shall have the right to a share of the pro­ceeds of li­quid­a­tion cor­res­pond­ing to frac­tion that nom­in­al value of his cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tion rep­res­ents of the nom­in­al cap­it­al. Where ad­di­tion­al fin­an­cial con­tri­bu­tions have been made and not re­fun­ded, their value must be ad­ded to the cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tions of the com­pany mem­ber con­cerned and to the nom­in­al cap­it­al. The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may ad­opt an al­tern­at­ive pro­vi­sion.

2 The rel­ev­ant pro­vi­sions on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis to the dis­sol­u­tion of a com­pany with li­quid­a­tion.

Section Five: Liability

Art. 827  
 

The rel­ev­ant pro­vi­sions on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares ap­ply to the li­ab­il­ity of per­sons who are in­volved in the found­a­tion, man­age­ment, audit­ing or li­quid­a­tion of a lim­ited li­ab­il­ity com­pany.

Title Twenty-Nine: The Cooperative

Section One: Definition and Foundation

Art. 828  

A. Co­oper­at­ives un­der the Code of Ob­lig­a­tions

 

1 A co­oper­at­ive is a cor­por­ate en­tity con­sist­ing of an un­lim­ited num­ber of per­sons or com­mer­cial en­ter­prises which primar­ily aims to pro­mote or safe­guard the eco­nom­ic in­terests of the co­oper­at­ive’s mem­bers by way of col­lect­ive self-help or which is foun­ded for char­it­able pur­poses.694

2 Co­oper­at­ives with a pre­de­ter­mined nom­in­al cap­it­al are not per­mit­ted.

694 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 17 March 2017 (Com­mer­cial Re­gister Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2021 (AS 2020 957; BBl 2015 3617).

Art. 829  

B. Co­oper­at­ives un­der pub­lic law

 

As­so­ci­ations of per­sons un­der pub­lic law are gov­erned by fed­er­al and can­ton­al pub­lic law even where formed to pur­sue co­oper­at­ive pur­poses.

Art. 830695  

C. Found­a­tion

I. Re­quire­ments

1. In gen­er­al

 

A co­oper­at­ive shall be foun­ded by the founders de­clar­ing in a pub­lic deed that they are found­ing a co­oper­at­ive and spe­cify­ing therein the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation and the gov­ern­ing bod­ies.

695 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 831  

2. Num­ber of mem­bers

 

1 At least sev­en mem­bers must be in­volved in the found­a­tion of a co­oper­at­ive.

2 Where the num­ber of mem­bers sub­sequently drops be­low the min­im­um num­ber, the pro­vi­sions of the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares on de­fects in the or­gan­isa­tion of a com­pany ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.696

696 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 832  

II. Art­icles of as­so­ci­ation

1. Con­tent pre­scribed by law

 

The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation must con­tain pro­vi­sions con­cern­ing:

1.697
the busi­ness name and seat of the co­oper­at­ive;
2.
the ob­jects of the co­oper­at­ive;
3. and 4.698
5.699
the form of the co­oper­at­ive’s com­mu­nic­a­tions with its mem­bers.

697 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

698 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

699 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 833  

2. Fur­ther pro­vi­sions

 

In or­der to be bind­ing, pro­vi­sions on the fol­low­ing mat­ters must be in­cluded in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation:

1.
cre­ation of the co­oper­at­ive’s nom­in­al cap­it­al by means of co­oper­at­ive shares (share cer­ti­fic­ates);
2.
con­tri­bu­tions in kind to the co­oper­at­ive’s nom­in­al cap­it­al, the nature and im­puted value there­of and the re­quire­ments per­tain­ing to the per­son of the con­trib­ut­or;
3.700
4.
ac­ces­sion to the co­oper­at­ive and loss of mem­ber­ship, where such rules dif­fer from the stat­utory pro­vi­sions;
5.701
mem­bers’ per­son­al li­ab­il­ity and their li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions and an ob­lig­a­tion for mem­bers to make cash or oth­er con­tri­bu­tions and the nature and amount there­of;
6.
the or­gan­isa­tion and rep­res­ent­a­tion of the co­oper­at­ive, amend­ment of its art­icles of as­so­ci­ation and the ad­op­tion of res­ol­u­tions by the gen­er­al as­sembly, where such rules dif­fer from the stat­utory pro­vi­sions;
7.
re­stric­tions on or ex­ten­sions of the ex­er­cise of mem­bers’ right to vote;
8.702
the cal­cu­la­tion and al­loc­a­tion of bal­ance sheet profit and the li­quid­a­tion sur­plus.

700 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

701 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

702 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 834  

III. Con­stitu­ent as­sembly

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation shall be drawn up in writ­ing and sub­mit­ted to an as­sembly con­vened by the founder mem­bers for con­sulta­tion and ap­prov­al.

2 In ad­di­tion, a writ­ten re­port by the founder mem­bers on any con­tri­bu­tions in kind shall be made avail­able to the as­sembly for con­sulta­tion. The founder mem­bers must con­firm that there are no con­tri­bu­tions in kind, in­stances of off­set­ting or spe­cial priv­ileges oth­er than those men­tioned in the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments.703

3 This as­sembly shall also ap­point the ne­ces­sary gov­ern­ing bod­ies.

4 Un­til the co­oper­at­ive has been entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister, the mem­ber­ship may be es­tab­lished only by sign­ing the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

703 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 835704  

IV. Entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister

1. Co­oper­at­ive

 

The co­oper­at­ive shall be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister of the place at which it has its seat.

704 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 836705  

2. ...

 

705 Re­pealed by No I 2 of the FA of 17 March 2017 (Com­mer­cial Re­gister Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2021 (AS 2020 957; BBl 2015 3617).

Art. 837706  

3. Re­gister of mem­bers

 

1 The co­oper­at­ive shall keep a re­gister in which the first name and sur­name or the busi­ness name of the mem­bers and their ad­dresses are re­cor­ded. It must keep the re­gister in such a man­ner that it can be ac­cessed at any time in Switzer­land.

2 The doc­u­ments on which an entry is based must be re­tained for ten years fol­low­ing the de­le­tion of the mem­ber con­cerned from the re­gister.

706 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 12 Dec. 2014 on the Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the re­vised re­com­mend­a­tions 2012 of the Fin­an­cial Ac­tion Task Force, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2015 (AS 20151389; BBl 2014605).

Art. 838  

V. Ac­quis­i­tion of leg­al per­son­al­ity

 

1 The co­oper­at­ive shall ac­quire leg­al per­son­al­ity only through entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

2 Per­sons act­ing in the name of the co­oper­at­ive pri­or to entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister are li­able per­son­ally and jointly and sev­er­ally for their ac­tions.

3 Where such ob­lig­a­tions were entered in­to ex­pressly in the name of the co­oper­at­ive to be foun­ded and are as­sumed by the lat­ter with­in three months of its entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister, the per­sons who con­trac­ted them are re­leased and only the co­oper­at­ive is li­able.

Art. 838a707  

D. Amend­ment of the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation

 

A res­ol­u­tion of the gen­er­al as­sembly or the board on an amend­ment of the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation must be done as a pub­lic deed and entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

707 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Section Two: Acquisition of Membership

Art. 839  

A. Gen­er­al prin­ciple

 

1 New mem­bers may be ac­cep­ted in­to a co­oper­at­ive at any time.

2 Provid­ing the prin­ciple of un­lim­ited mem­ber­ship is re­spec­ted, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may lay down more de­tailed pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing ac­ces­sion; however, they must not im­pose ex­cess­ive obstacles to ac­ces­sion.

Art. 840  

B. De­clar­a­tion of ac­ces­sion

 

1 Ac­ces­sion re­quires a writ­ten de­clar­a­tion.

2 Where, in ad­di­tion to be­ing li­able with its as­sets, a co­oper­at­ive provides for per­son­al li­ab­il­ity or the li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions on the part of the in­di­vidu­al mem­bers, the de­clar­a­tion of ac­ces­sion must state such ob­lig­a­tions ex­pressly.

3 The board shall de­cide on ac­cept­ance of new mem­bers, un­less un­der the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation a mere de­clar­a­tion of ac­ces­sion is suf­fi­cient or a res­ol­u­tion of the gen­er­al as­sembly is re­quired.

Art. 841  

C. In con­nec­tion with an in­sur­ance policy

 

1 Where mem­ber­ship of the co­oper­at­ive is linked with tak­ing out an in­sur­ance policy with the co­oper­at­ive, mem­ber­ship shall be ac­quired on ac­cept­ance of the in­sur­ance ap­plic­a­tion by the com­pet­ent gov­ern­ing body.

2 In­sur­ance policies con­cluded by a li­censed in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ive with its mem­bers are sub­ject to the Fed­er­al Act of 2 April 1908708 on In­sur­ance Policies in the same man­ner as in­sur­ance policies con­cluded with third parties.

Section Three: Loss of Membership

Art. 842  

A. De­par­ture

I. Free­dom to leave

 

1 Un­less a res­ol­u­tion has been passed to dis­solve the co­oper­at­ive, any mem­ber is free to leave.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may provide that a de­part­ing mem­ber is re­quired to pay an ap­pro­pri­ate sev­er­ance pen­alty where in the cir­cum­stances the de­par­ture causes the co­oper­at­ive sig­ni­fic­ant losses or jeop­ard­ises its con­tin­ued ex­ist­ence.

3 Any per­man­ent ban on or ex­cess­ive obstacle to de­par­ture im­posed by the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation or by agree­ment shall be void.

Art. 843  

II. Re­stric­tion of de­par­ture

 

1 A mem­ber may be barred from leav­ing by the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation or by agree­ment for no more than five years.

2 Even dur­ing this peri­od a mem­ber may leave for good cause. The ob­lig­a­tion to pay an ap­pro­pri­ate sev­er­ance pen­alty on the same con­di­tions as ap­ply to mem­bers with an un­res­tric­ted right of de­par­ture is re­served.

Art. 844  

III. No­tice and tim­ing of de­par­ture

 

1 Mem­bers may leave only at the end of the fin­an­cial year and on ex­piry of one year’s no­tice.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late a short­er no­tice peri­od and may per­mit de­par­tures in the course of the fin­an­cial year.

Art. 845  

IV. Ex­er­cise in bank­ruptcy and at­tach­ment

 

Where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation grant a de­part­ing mem­ber a share of the co­oper­at­ive’s as­sets, a bank­rupt mem­ber’s right to leave may be ex­er­cised by the bank­ruptcy ad­min­is­trat­ors or, if the mem­ber’s share has been at­tached, by the debt col­lec­tion of­fice.

Art. 846  

B. Ex­clu­sion

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late the grounds on which a mem­ber may be ex­cluded.

2 Moreover, a mem­ber may be ex­cluded at any time for good cause.

3 Ex­clu­sions shall be de­cided by the gen­er­al as­sembly. The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that the board is re­spons­ible, in which case the ex­cluded mem­ber has a right of re­course to the gen­er­al as­sembly. A mem­ber may ap­peal against ex­clu­sion to the courts with­in three months.

4 The ex­cluded mem­ber may be re­quired to pay an ap­pro­pri­ate sev­er­ance pen­alty on the same con­di­tions as ap­ply to mem­bers with an un­res­tric­ted right of de­par­ture.

Art. 847  

C. Death of a mem­ber

 

1 Mem­ber­ship shall lapse on the death of the mem­ber.

2 However, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that the mem­ber’s heirs auto­mat­ic­ally be­come mem­bers of the co­oper­at­ive.

3 Fur­ther, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that the heirs or one of two or more heirs must, on writ­ten re­quest, be re­cog­nised as mem­ber in place of the de­ceased mem­ber.

4 The com­munity of heirs must ap­point a joint rep­res­ent­at­ive to act as a mem­ber of the co­oper­at­ive.

Art. 848  

D. Lapse of of­fice, em­ploy­ment or con­tract

 

Where mem­ber­ship of a co­oper­at­ive is linked to the hold­ing of an of­fice or an em­ploy­ment re­la­tion­ship or is the res­ult of a con­trac­tu­al re­la­tion­ship, as in the case of an in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ive, un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, mem­ber­ship lapses on ter­min­a­tion of such of­fice, em­ploy­ment or con­tract.

Art. 849  

E. Trans­fer of mem­ber­ship

I. In gen­er­al

 

1 The as­sign­ment of shares in the co­oper­at­ive and, where a cer­ti­fic­ate is is­sued as proof of mem­ber­ship or such share, the trans­fer of this cer­ti­fic­ate do not auto­mat­ic­ally make the ac­quirer a mem­ber. The ac­quirer be­comes a mem­ber only after the ex­ist­ing mem­bers have passed a res­ol­u­tion of ac­cept­ance as re­quired by law and the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

2 Un­til such time as the ac­quirer be­comes a mem­ber, the ali­en­at­or is en­titled to ex­er­cise the per­son­al mem­ber­ship rights.

3 Where mem­ber­ship of a co­oper­at­ive is linked with a con­tract, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that, if the con­tract is sub­sequently taken over, mem­ber­ship auto­mat­ic­ally passes to the leg­al suc­cessor.

Art. 850  

II. By trans­fer of land or com­mer­cial ex­ploit­a­tion

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may make mem­ber­ship of a co­oper­at­ive con­di­tion­al on own­er­ship or com­mer­cial ex­ploit­a­tion of a prop­erty.

2 In such cases the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that, in the event that the prop­erty or com­mer­cial op­er­a­tions change hands, mem­ber­ship shall auto­mat­ic­ally pass to the ac­quirer.

3 A trans­fer of mem­ber­ship res­ult­ing from the ali­en­a­tion of prop­erty shall be val­id as against third parties only if entered un­der pri­or­ity no­tice in the land re­gister.

Art. 851  

F. De­par­ture of the leg­al suc­cessor

 

In the case of trans­fer and in­her­it­ance of mem­ber­ship, the con­di­tions for leav­ing the co­oper­at­ive are the same for the leg­al suc­cessor as for the former mem­ber.

Section Four: Rights and Obligations of the Members

Art. 852  

A. Proof of mem­ber­ship

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that a cer­ti­fic­ate be is­sued as proof of mem­ber­ship.

2 Such proof may also be provided as part of the mem­ber’s share cer­ti­fic­ate.

Art. 853  

B. Share cer­ti­fic­ates

 

1 Where a co­oper­at­ive has shares, each mem­ber join­ing it must take at least one.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that mul­tiple shares may be ac­quired, up to a spe­cified max­im­um.

3 Share cer­ti­fic­ates are made out in the mem­ber’s name. However, they may not be made out in the form of ne­go­ti­able se­cur­it­ies, but only as doc­u­ments in proof.

Art. 854  

C. Equal­ity

 

The mem­bers all have equal rights and ob­lig­a­tions, un­less the law makes an ex­cep­tion.

Art. 855  

D. Rights

I. Vot­ing right

 

The rights of mem­bers to par­ti­cip­ate in the af­fairs of the co­oper­at­ive, in par­tic­u­lar with re­gard to the man­age­ment of its busi­ness and the pro­mo­tion of the co­oper­at­ive’s in­terests, are ex­er­cised by tak­ing part in the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers or, where pre­scribed by law, in bal­lots.

Art. 856  

II. Con­trol by the mem­bers 1. No­tice of the an­nu­al re­port

 

1 No later than ten days pri­or to the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers or the bal­lot to de­cide on ap­prov­al of the man­age­ment re­port, the con­sol­id­ated ac­counts and the an­nu­al ac­counts, these doc­u­ments to­geth­er with the audit re­port must be made avail­able at the seat of the co­oper­at­ive for in­spec­tion by its mem­bers.710

2 Un­less the doc­u­ments are elec­tron­ic­ally ac­cess­ible, any mem­ber may for one year fol­low­ing the gen­er­al as­sembly re­quest that they be sent the an­nu­al re­port in the form ap­proved by the gen­er­al as­sembly to­geth­er with the audit re­port.711

710 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 23 Dec. 2011 (Fin­an­cial Re­port­ing Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 6679; BBl 2008 1589).

711 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 857  

2. Re­lease of in­form­a­tion

 

1 The mem­bers may draw the at­ten­tion of the ex­tern­al aud­it­or to du­bi­ous pro­ced­ures and re­quest the ne­ces­sary in­form­a­tion.712

2 The co­oper­at­ive’s ledgers and busi­ness cor­res­pond­ence may be in­spec­ted only with the ex­press au­thor­isa­tion of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers or by res­ol­u­tion of the board and if meas­ures are taken to safe­guard trade secrets.

3 The court may or­der the co­oper­at­ive to provide the mem­bers with in­form­a­tion on sig­ni­fic­ant mat­ters rel­ev­ant to the ex­er­cise of their right of con­trol in the form of au­then­tic­ated cop­ies from its ledgers or cor­res­pond­ence. The court or­der must not jeop­ard­ise the in­terests of the co­oper­at­ive.

4 The mem­bers’ right of con­trol may not be ex­cluded or re­stric­ted either by the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation or by res­ol­u­tions made by a gov­ern­ing body of the co­oper­at­ive.

712 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 858714  

III. Rights to share in the an­nu­al profit

1. ...

 

714 Re­pealed by No I 3 of the FA of 23 Dec. 2011 (Fin­an­cial Re­port­ing Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 6679; BBl 2008 1589).

Art. 859  

2. Profit dis­tri­bu­tion prin­ciples

 

1 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, any an­nu­al profit on the co­oper­at­ive’s busi­ness op­er­a­tions passes in its en­tirety to the co­oper­at­ive’s as­sets.

2 Where dis­tri­bu­tion of the an­nu­al profit among the mem­bers is provided for, un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation dic­tate oth­er­wise, it shall be dis­trib­uted ac­cord­ing to the use of the co­oper­at­ive’s fa­cil­it­ies by in­di­vidu­al mem­bers.

3 Where share cer­ti­fic­ates ex­ist, the por­tion of the an­nu­al profit paid out on them must not ex­ceed the usu­al rate of in­terest for long-term loans without spe­cial se­cur­ity.

Art. 860  

3. Duty to form and ac­cu­mu­late a re­serve fund

 

1 Where the net profit is used for a pur­pose oth­er than to build up the co­oper­at­ive’s as­sets, each year one twen­ti­eth of it must be al­loc­ated to a re­serve fund. Such al­loc­a­tions must be made for at least 20 years; where share cer­ti­fic­ates ex­ist, they must in any event be made un­til the re­serve fund is equal to one-fifth of the co­oper­at­ive’s cap­it­al.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that the re­serve fund must be ac­cu­mu­lated more rap­idly.

3 To the ex­tent that the re­serve fund does not ex­ceed one-half of the co­oper­at­ive’s oth­er as­sets or, where share cer­ti­fic­ates ex­ist, one-half of the co­oper­at­ive’s cap­it­al, it may be used only to cov­er losses or for meas­ures de­signed to sus­tain the co­oper­at­ive’s pur­suit of its ob­jects in dif­fi­cult times.

4 ...715

715 Re­pealed by An­nex No II 1 of the In­sur­ance Over­sight Act of 17 Dec. 2004, with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2006 (AS 2005 5269; BBl 2003 3789).

Art. 861  

4. An­nu­al profit at cred­it co­oper­at­ives

 

1 Cred­it co­oper­at­ives may lay down art­icles of as­so­ci­ation that derog­ate from the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing dis­tri­bu­tion of an­nu­al profit con­tained in the pre­vi­ous art­icles, but they too are ob­liged to form a re­serve fund and to use it in ac­cord­ance with the above pro­vi­sions.

2 Each year at least one-tenth of the an­nu­al profit must be al­loc­ated to the re­serve fund un­til it equals one-tenth of the co­oper­at­ive’s nom­in­al cap­it­al.

3 Where a por­tion of the an­nu­al profit is paid out to hold­ers of shares in the co­oper­at­ive and that por­tion ex­ceeds the usu­al rate of in­terest for long-term loans without spe­cial se­cur­ity, one-tenth of the amount by which it ex­ceeds the usu­al in­terest rate must like­wise be al­loc­ated to the re­serve fund.

Art. 862  

5. Wel­fare funds

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may also provide for al­loc­a­tions to es­tab­lish and fin­ance oth­er funds, in par­tic­u­lar funds ded­ic­ated to the wel­fare of em­ploy­ees of the com­pany and re­lated work­ers and for mem­bers of the co­oper­at­ive.

2–4 ...716

716Re­pealed by No I let. b of the FA of 21 March 1958, with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 1958 (AS 1958 379; BBl 1956 II 825).

Art. 863  

6. Fur­ther al­loc­a­tions to re­serves

 

1 Al­loc­a­tions to the re­serve fund and oth­er funds in ac­cord­ance with the law and the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation shall be de­duc­ted in the first in­stance from the an­nu­al profit avail­able for dis­tri­bu­tion.

2 Where it is deemed ap­pro­pri­ate in or­der to se­cure the long-term suc­cess of the co­oper­at­ive, the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers may also re­solve to cre­ate re­serves which are not en­vis­aged by or meet high­er re­quire­ments than are spe­cified by the law or the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

3 Sim­il­arly, con­tri­bu­tions may be de­duc­ted from the an­nu­al profit for the pur­pose of cre­at­ing and fin­an­cing wel­fare funds for em­ploy­ees, oth­er work­ers and mem­bers or for oth­er wel­fare pur­poses even where these are not en­vis­aged in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation; such con­tri­bu­tions are sub­ject to the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing wel­fare funds es­tab­lished by the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

Art. 864  

IV. En­ti­tle­ment to set­tle­ment

1. Un­der the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation shall spe­cify wheth­er the de­part­ing mem­bers or their heirs have claims on the co­oper­at­ive’s as­sets and, if so, what those claims are. Such claims must be cal­cu­lated on the basis of the net bal­ance sheet as­sets ex­clud­ing re­serves at the time the mem­ber leaves the co­oper­at­ive.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may grant de­part­ing mem­bers or their heirs the right to the full or par­tial re­pay­ment of the value of their share cer­ti­fic­ate ex­clud­ing the entry fee. They may stip­u­late that this re­pay­ment be de­ferred for up to three years after the mem­ber’s de­par­ture.

3 Even where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation make no such pro­vi­sion, the co­oper­at­ive re­mains en­titled to de­fer the re­pay­ment for up to three years where it would cause the co­oper­at­ive con­sid­er­able losses or jeop­ard­ise its con­tin­ued ex­ist­ence. Any en­ti­tle­ment of the co­oper­at­ive to a sev­er­ance pen­alty paid by the de­part­ing mem­ber is un­af­fected by this pro­vi­sion.

4 The claims of de­part­ing mem­bers or their heirs pre­scribe three years after the time at which the set­tle­ment be­comes pay­able by the co­oper­at­ive.

Art. 865  

2. By law

 

1 Where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation make no pro­vi­sion for a set­tle­ment en­ti­tle­ment, de­part­ing mem­bers or their heirs have no such en­ti­tle­ment.

2 Where the co­oper­at­ive is dis­solved with­in one year of the mem­ber’s de­par­ture or death and the as­sets are dis­trib­uted, the de­par­ted mem­ber or their heirs have the same en­ti­tle­ment as the mem­bers present on dis­sol­u­tion.

Art. 866  

E. Du­ties

I. Duty of loy­alty

 

The mem­bers are ob­liged to safe­guard the in­terests of the co­oper­at­ive loy­ally and in good faith.

Art. 867  

II. Duty to make con­tri­bu­tions

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation define the ob­lig­at­ory con­tri­bu­tions.

2 Where the mem­bers are ob­liged to pay in con­tri­bu­tions on share cer­ti­fic­ates or to make oth­er con­tri­bu­tions, the co­oper­at­ive must call them in by re­gistered let­ter with an ap­pro­pri­ate time lim­it for per­form­ance.

3 Where no pay­ment is forth­com­ing on first re­quest and the mem­ber fails to com­ply with­in one month of a second call for pay­ment, the mem­ber may be de­clared to have for­feited their rights as mem­ber of the co­oper­at­ive, provid­ing they were pre­vi­ously warned of this con­sequence by re­gistered let­ter.

4 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, the de­clar­a­tion of for­feit­ure does not re­lease the mem­ber from ob­lig­a­tions already due or fall­ing due by vir­tue of their ex­clu­sion.

Art. 868  

III. Li­ab­il­ity

1. Of the co­oper­at­ive

 

The co­oper­at­ive is li­able with its as­sets for its ob­lig­a­tions. It is li­able ex­clus­ively, un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise.

Art. 869  

2. Of the mem­bers

a. Un­lim­ited li­ab­il­ity

 

1 Ex­cept in the case of li­censed in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may provide that, after the co­oper­at­ive’s as­sets, the mem­bers have un­lim­ited per­son­al li­ab­il­ity.

2 Where this is the case and cred­it­ors suf­fer losses on the in­solv­ency of the co­oper­at­ive, the mem­bers are jointly and sev­er­ally li­able with their en­tire as­sets for all ob­lig­a­tions of the co­oper­at­ive. Claims in re­spect of this li­ab­il­ity are brought by the in­solv­ency ad­min­is­trat­ors un­til the in­solv­ency pro­ceed­ings are com­plete.

Art. 870  

b. Lim­ited li­ab­il­ity

 

1 Ex­cept in the case of li­censed in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may provide that, after the co­oper­at­ive’s as­sets, the mem­bers have lim­ited per­son­al li­ab­il­ity for the co­oper­at­ive’s ob­lig­a­tions above and bey­ond their mem­ber­ship con­tri­bu­tions and the value of their co­oper­at­ive shares, al­though only up to a spe­cified amount.

2 Where shares are held in the co­oper­at­ive, the amount for which the in­di­vidu­al mem­bers are li­able is de­term­ined by the value of their share.

3 Claims in re­spect of this li­ab­il­ity are brought by the in­solv­ency ad­min­is­trat­ors un­til the in­solv­ency pro­ceed­ings are com­plete.

Art. 871  

c. Li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions

 

1 In­stead of or in ad­di­tion to such li­ab­il­ity, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may re­quire the mem­bers to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions, which may be used only to cov­er net losses for the year.

2 The li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions may be un­lim­ited or else lim­ited to spe­cified amounts or to a spe­cified pro­por­tion of the mem­ber’s con­tri­bu­tion or share in the co­oper­at­ive.

3 Where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation make no pro­vi­sion on how ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions are to be shared among the mem­bers, the amount due from each is de­term­ined ac­cord­ing to the value of their shares in the co­oper­at­ive or, where no such shares ex­ist, on a per cap­ita basis.

4 The ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions may be called in at any time. If the co­oper­at­ive is in­solv­ent, the right to call in ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions ac­crues to the in­solv­ency ad­min­is­trat­ors.

5 In oth­er re­spects the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing the call­ing-in of con­tri­bu­tions and de­clar­a­tion of for­feit­ure are ap­plic­able.

Art. 872  

d. In­ad­miss­ible re­stric­tions

 

Any pro­vi­sions made in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation which lim­it li­ab­il­ity to a spe­cif­ic time or to par­tic­u­lar ob­lig­a­tions or groups of mem­bers are void.

Art. 873  

e. Pro­ced­ure in in­solv­ency

 

1 In the event of the in­solv­ency of a co­oper­at­ive in which the mem­bers are per­son­ally li­able or li­able to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions, at the same time as they draw up the sched­ule of claims the in­solv­ency ad­min­is­trat­ors must de­term­ine and call in the pro­vi­sion­al per­son­al li­ab­il­ity of each in­di­vidu­al mem­ber or the ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions they must make.

2 Ir­re­cov­er­able amounts must be spread equally among the oth­er mem­bers, and sur­pluses re­paid once the fi­nal dis­tri­bu­tion plan has been for­mu­lated. The mem­bers’ right of re­course against each oth­er is re­served.

3 The pro­vi­sion­al de­term­in­a­tion of mem­bers’ ob­lig­a­tions and the dis­tri­bu­tion plan are sub­ject to chal­lenge by ap­peal on pro­ced­ur­al grounds pur­su­ant to the Debt En­force­ment and Bank­ruptcy Act of 11 April 1889717.

4 The pro­ced­ure is de­term­ined by Fed­er­al Coun­cil or­din­ance.718

717SR 281.1

718 Amended by No II 10 of the FA of 20 March 2008 on the Form­al Re­vi­sion of Fed­er­al Le­gis­la­tion, in force since 1 Aug. 2008 (AS 2008 34373452; BBl 2007 6121).

Art. 874  

f. Amend­ment of li­ab­il­ity pro­vi­sions

 

1 The pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing the per­son­al li­ab­il­ity or li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions of the mem­bers and the re­duc­tion or can­cel­la­tion of share cer­ti­fic­ates may be amended only by amend­ing the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

2 Fur­ther­more, the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing re­duc­tions of cap­it­al by com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares ap­ply to any re­duc­tion or can­cel­la­tion of share cer­ti­fic­ates.719

3 Any re­duc­tion of a mem­ber’s per­son­al li­ab­il­ity or li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions shall have no ef­fect on ob­lig­a­tions that arose pri­or to pub­lic­a­tion of the amend­ment to the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

4 Where a mem­ber’s per­son­al li­ab­il­ity or li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions is es­tab­lished or in­creased, on entry of the res­ol­u­tion in the com­mer­cial re­gister it works in fa­vour of all cred­it­ors of the co­oper­at­ive.

719 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 875  

g. Li­ab­il­ity of new mem­bers

 

1 A per­son join­ing a co­oper­at­ive in which the mem­bers are per­son­ally li­able or li­able to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions has the same li­ab­il­ity as the oth­er mem­bers for the co­oper­at­ive’s ob­lig­a­tions, in­clud­ing those that arose be­fore the new mem­ber joined.

2 Any con­trary pro­vi­sion made in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation or by agree­ment between the mem­bers has no ef­fect against third parties.

Art. 876  

h. Li­ab­il­ity after de­par­ture or dis­sol­u­tion

 

1 Where a mem­ber with lim­ited or un­lim­ited li­ab­il­ity leaves the co­oper­at­ive as a res­ult of death or for some oth­er reas­on, that mem­ber re­mains li­able for the ob­lig­a­tions arising pri­or to de­par­ture if the co­oper­at­ive be­comes in­solv­ent with­in one year or any longer peri­od stip­u­lated in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation of the date on which the de­par­ture was entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

2 Any li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions re­mains ef­fect­ive on the same con­di­tions and sub­ject to the same time lim­its.

3 Where a co­oper­at­ive is dis­solved, the mem­bers like­wise re­main li­able or ob­liged to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions if in­solv­ency pro­ceed­ings are com­menced in re­spect of the co­oper­at­ive with­in one year or any longer peri­od stip­u­lated in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation of the date on which such dis­sol­u­tion was entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

Art. 877  

i. No­ti­fic­a­tion of ac­ces­sions and de­par­tures for entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister

 

1 Where the mem­bers have lim­ited or un­lim­ited li­ab­il­ity for the co­oper­at­ive’s debts or are li­able to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions, the board must no­ti­fy every ac­ces­sion or de­par­ture of a mem­ber for entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister with­in three months.

2 Fur­ther, every de­part­ing or ex­cluded mem­ber and the heirs of a mem­ber have the right to have the mem­ber’s de­par­ture, ex­clu­sion or death entered in the re­gister on their ini­ti­at­ive. The com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice must im­me­di­ately no­ti­fy the co­oper­at­ive’s board of any such no­ti­fic­a­tion.

3 Li­censed in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives are ex­empt from the duty to no­ti­fy their mem­bers for entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

Art. 878  

k. Pre­script­ive peri­ods for li­ab­il­ity

 

1 Cred­it­ors’ claims in re­spect of the per­son­al li­ab­il­ity of in­di­vidu­al mem­bers may be brought by any cred­it­or at any time up to one year after com­ple­tion of in­solv­ency pro­ceed­ings, un­less the law provides for their ex­tinc­tion at an earli­er junc­ture.

2 The mem­bers’ right of re­course against each oth­er like­wise pre­scribes three years after the date of the pay­ment to which the claim relates.720

720 Amended by No I of the FA of 15 June 2018 (Re­vi­sion of the Law on Pre­scrip­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2020 (AS 2018 5343; BBl 2014 235).

Section Five: Organisation of the Cooperative

Art. 879  

A. Gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers

I. Powers

 

1 The su­preme gov­ern­ing body of a co­oper­at­ive is the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers.

2 It has the fol­low­ing in­ali­en­able powers:

1.
to de­term­ine and amend the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation;
2.721
to elect the board and the ex­tern­al aud­it­or;
2bis.722
to ap­prove the an­nu­al ac­counts and if ap­plic­able to pass res­ol­u­tions on the al­loc­a­tion of the bal­ance sheet profit;
3.723
to ap­prove the man­age­ment re­port and the con­sol­id­ated ac­counts;
3bis.724
to pass res­ol­u­tions on re­pay­ing cap­it­al re­serves;
4.
to dis­charge the board;
5.
to make res­ol­u­tions con­cern­ing the mat­ters re­served to the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers by law or the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

721 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

722 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

723 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 23 Dec. 2011 (Fin­an­cial Re­port­ing Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2013 (AS 2012 6679; BBl 2008 1589).

724 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 880  

II. Bal­lot

 

In the case of co­oper­at­ives with more than 300 mem­bers or in which the ma­jor­ity of mem­bers are them­selves co­oper­at­ives, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that all or some of the powers of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers be ex­er­cised by bal­lot.

Art. 881  

III. Con­ven­ing the gen­er­al as­sembly

1. Right and duty

 

1 The gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers shall be con­vened by the board or any oth­er gov­ern­ing body on which the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation con­fer such au­thor­ity, and where ne­ces­sary by the ex­tern­al aud­it­or.725 The li­quid­at­ors and the rep­res­ent­at­ives of bond cred­it­ors also have the right to con­vene a gen­er­al as­sembly.

2 The gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers must be con­vened at the re­quest of at least one-tenth of the mem­bers or, in the case of co­oper­at­ives with few­er than 30 mem­bers, at least three mem­bers.

3 Where the board fails to grant such a re­quest with­in a reas­on­able peri­od, on ap­plic­a­tion the court must or­der that a gen­er­al as­sembly be con­vened.

725 First sen­tence Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 882  

2. Form

 

1 The gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers must be con­vened in the form pre­scribed by the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation but in any event no later than five days be­fore the date for which it is sched­uled.

2 In the case of co­oper­at­ives with more than 30 mem­bers, con­voc­a­tion is ef­fect­ive as soon as it is pub­licly an­nounced.

Art. 883  

3. Agenda items

 

1 The no­tice con­ven­ing the meet­ing must in­clude the agenda items to be dis­cussed and the es­sen­tial con­tent of any pro­posed amend­ments to the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

2 No res­ol­u­tions may be made on mo­tions re­lat­ing to agenda items that were not duly no­ti­fied, ex­cept by means of a mo­tion to con­vene a fur­ther gen­er­al as­sembly.

3 No ad­vance no­tice is re­quired to pro­pose mo­tions on duly no­ti­fied agenda items and to de­bate items without passing res­ol­u­tions.

Art. 884  

4. Uni­ver­sal meet­ing

 

Where all the co­oper­at­ive’s mem­bers are present, they may, if no ob­jec­tion is raised, pass res­ol­u­tions without need­ing to com­ply with the form­al con­voc­a­tion re­quire­ments.

Art. 885  

IV. Vot­ing rights

 

Every mem­ber has one vote at the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers or in the bal­lot.

Art. 886  

V. Rep­res­ent­a­tion

 

1 A mem­ber may ex­er­cise their right to vote at the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers by ap­point­ing an­oth­er mem­ber to act as their rep­res­ent­at­ive, but no rep­res­ent­at­ive may rep­res­ent more than one mem­ber.

2 In the case of co­oper­at­ives with more than 1,000 mem­bers, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late that each mem­ber may rep­res­ent more than one oth­er mem­ber but nev­er more than nine.

3 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation re­serve the right to per­mit rep­res­ent­a­tion of mem­bers by re­l­at­ives with ca­pa­city to act.

Art. 887  

VI. Ex­clu­sion of right to vote

 

1 In the case of res­ol­u­tions con­cern­ing the dis­charge of the board, per­sons who have par­ti­cip­ated in any man­ner in the man­age­ment of the co­oper­at­ive’s busi­ness have no right to vote.

2 ...726

726 Re­pealed by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 888  

VII. Res­ol­u­tions

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 Un­less oth­er­wise provided for by law or the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation, the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers shall pass res­ol­u­tions and de­cide elec­tions by an ab­so­lute ma­jor­ity of the votes cast. The same ap­plies to res­ol­u­tions and elec­tions by bal­lot.

2 The dis­sol­u­tion of the co­oper­at­ive and any amend­ment to the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation re­quire a ma­jor­ity of two-thirds of the votes cast. The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may stip­u­late more re­strict­ive con­di­tions for such res­ol­u­tions.727

727 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the Mer­gers Act of 3 Oct. 2003, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 2004 2617; BBl 2000 4337).

Art. 889  

2. In­crease of mem­bers’ ob­lig­a­tions

 

1 Res­ol­u­tions to in­tro­duce or in­crease the mem­bers’ per­son­al li­ab­il­ity or their li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions re­quire the con­sent of three-quar­ters of all mem­bers.

2 Mem­bers who did not vote in fa­vour are not bound by such res­ol­u­tions provid­ing they give no­tice of their de­par­ture from the co­oper­at­ive with­in three months of the pub­lic­a­tion of the res­ol­u­tion in ques­tion. Such de­par­ture takes ef­fect as of the date on which the res­ol­u­tion comes in­to force.

3 In such cases, de­par­ture may not be made con­di­tion­al on pay­ment of a sev­er­ance pen­alty.

Art. 890  

VIII. Dis­missal of the board and the ex­tern­al aud­it­or

 

1 The gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers is en­titled to dis­miss the mem­bers of the board and the ex­tern­al aud­it­or and any re­gistered at­tor­neys or com­mer­cial agents ap­poin­ted by them.729

2 On ap­plic­a­tion by at least one-tenth of the mem­bers, the court may or­der such dis­missals where good cause ex­ists and, in par­tic­u­lar, where the per­sons in ques­tion neg­lected their du­ties or were un­able to ful­fil them. In such cases the court must, where ne­ces­sary, or­der that fresh elec­tions be held by the com­pet­ent body of the co­oper­at­ive and take ap­pro­pri­ate meas­ures for the in­ter­im.

3 The claims for com­pens­a­tion of per­sons thus dis­missed are re­served.

729 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 891  

IX. Chal­len­ging res­ol­u­tions of the gen­er­al as­sembly

 

1 The board or any mem­ber may chal­lenge res­ol­u­tions made by the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers or by bal­lot which vi­ol­ate the law or the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation by bring­ing ac­tion against the co­oper­at­ive be­fore the court. Where the board is the claimant, the court shall ap­point a rep­res­ent­at­ive for the co­oper­at­ive.

2 The right of chal­lenge lapses where the ac­tion is not brought with­in two months of the ad­op­tion of the res­ol­u­tion.

3 A court judg­ment that an­nuls a res­ol­u­tion is ef­fect­ive for and against all the mem­bers.

Art. 892  

X. As­sembly of del­eg­ates

 

1 Co­oper­at­ives with more than 300 mem­bers or in which the ma­jor­ity of the mem­bers are co­oper­at­ives may del­eg­ate all or some of the powers of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers to an as­sembly of del­eg­ates by means of the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

2 Rules gov­ern­ing the com­pos­i­tion, elec­tion and con­voc­a­tion of the as­sembly of del­eg­ates are laid down in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

3 Every del­eg­ate has one vote in the as­sembly of del­eg­ates, un­less dif­fer­ent pro­vi­sion for right to vote is made in the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

4 In oth­er re­spects the stat­utory pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers ap­ply to the as­sembly of del­eg­ates.

Art. 893  

XI. Ex­cep­tions for in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives

 

1 Li­censed in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives with more than 1,000 mem­bers may del­eg­ate all or some of the powers of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers to the board by means of the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation.

2 The powers of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers to in­tro­duce or in­crease the mem­bers’ li­ab­il­ity to make ad­di­tion­al con­tri­bu­tions and to dis­solve, merge, split and modi­fy the leg­al form of the co­oper­at­ive are not trans­fer­able.730

730 Amended by An­nex No 2 of the Mer­gers Act of 3 Oct. 2003, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 2004 2617; BBl 2000 4337).

Art. 893a731  

XII. Ven­ue and use of elec­tron­ic means

 

The rules of the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares on the ven­ue and us­ing elec­tron­ic means when pre­par­ing for and con­duct­ing the gen­er­al as­sembly ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.

731 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 894  

B. Board

I. Eli­gib­il­ity

1. Mem­ber­ship

 

1 The board of the co­oper­at­ive shall com­prise at least three per­sons; a ma­jor­ity of them must be mem­bers.

2 Where a leg­al en­tity or com­mer­cial com­pany holds a par­ti­cip­a­tion in the co­oper­at­ive, it shall not be eli­gible as such to serve as a mem­ber of the board; however, its rep­res­ent­at­ive may be elec­ted in its stead.

Art. 895732  

2....

 

732 Re­pealed by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 896  

II. Term of of­fice

 

1 The mem­bers of the board shall be elec­ted for a max­im­um term of of­fice of four years, but may be re-elec­ted un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise.

2 The pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares ap­ply to terms of of­fice of mem­bers of the board of li­censed in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives.

Art. 897  

III. Ad­min­is­trat­ive com­mit­tees

 

The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may del­eg­ate some of the du­ties and powers of the board to one or more com­mit­tees elec­ted by the board.

Art. 898733  

IV. Busi­ness man­age­ment and rep­res­ent­a­tion

1. Del­eg­a­tion

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may au­thor­ise the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers or the board to del­eg­ate re­spons­ib­il­ity for man­aging the co­oper­at­ive’s busi­ness or parts there­of and for rep­res­ent­ing the co­oper­at­ive to one or more per­sons, busi­ness man­agers or ex­ec­ut­ive of­ficers, who need not be mem­bers of the co­oper­at­ive.

2 A co­oper­at­ive must be able to be rep­res­en­ted by a per­son who is res­id­ent in Switzer­land. This per­son must be a dir­ect­or, a busi­ness man­ager or an ex­ec­ut­ive of­ficer. This per­son must have ac­cess to the re­gister un­der Art­icle 837.734

733 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

734 Amended by No I 2 of the FA of 12 Dec. 2014 on the Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the re­vised re­com­mend­a­tions 2012 of the Fin­an­cial Ac­tion Task Force, in force since 1 Ju­ly 2015 (AS 20151389; BBl 2014605).

Art. 899  

2. Scope and re­stric­tion

 

1 The per­sons with au­thor­ity to rep­res­ent the co­oper­at­ive may carry out in its name any trans­ac­tions con­du­cive to the achieve­ment of the co­oper­at­ive’s ob­jects.

2 Any re­stric­tion of such au­thor­ity shall have no ef­fect in re­la­tion to bona fide third parties, sub­ject to any pro­vi­sions entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister that gov­ern ex­clus­ive rep­res­ent­a­tion of the prin­cip­al place of busi­ness or a branch of­fice or joint man­age­ment of the co­oper­at­ive.

3 The co­oper­at­ive is li­able for any loss or dam­age res­ult­ing from un­au­thor­ised acts car­ried out in the ex­er­cise of his func­tion by a per­son au­thor­ised to man­age the co­oper­at­ive’s busi­ness or to rep­res­ent it.

Art. 899a735  

3. Con­tracts between the co­oper­at­ive and its rep­res­ent­at­ives

 

If the co­oper­at­ive is rep­res­en­ted in the con­clu­sion of a con­tract by the same per­son with whom it is con­clud­ing the con­tract, the con­tract must be done in writ­ing. This re­quire­ment does not ap­ply to con­tracts re­lat­ing to every­day busi­ness where the value of the co­oper­at­ive's goods or ser­vices does not ex­ceed 1,000 francs.

735 In­ser­ted by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 900  

4. Sig­na­tures

 

The per­sons with au­thor­ity to rep­res­ent the co­oper­at­ive must sign by ap­pend­ing their sig­na­ture to the co­oper­at­ive’s busi­ness name.

Art. 901737  

5. …

 

737 Re­pealed by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 902  

V. Du­ties

1. In gen­er­al

 

1 The board must con­duct the busi­ness of the co­oper­at­ive with all di­li­gence and em­ploy its best en­deav­ours to fur­ther the co­oper­at­ive’s cause.

2 In par­tic­u­lar, it has a duty:

1.
to pre­pare the busi­ness of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers and im­ple­ment its res­ol­u­tions;
2.
to su­per­vise the per­sons en­trus­ted with the co­oper­at­ive’s busi­ness man­age­ment and rep­res­ent­a­tion with re­gard to com­pli­ance with the law, the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation and any ap­plic­able reg­u­la­tions and to keep it­self reg­u­larly in­formed of the co­oper­at­ive’s busi­ness per­form­ance.

3 The board is re­spons­ible for en­sur­ing that:

1.
the minutes of its meet­ings, the minutes of the gen­er­al as­sembly, the ne­ces­sary ac­count­ing re­cords and the mem­ber­ship list are kept prop­erly;
2.
the an­nu­al re­port is drawn up and sub­mit­ted to the ex­tern­al aud­it­or for ex­am­in­a­tion in ac­cord­ance with the stat­utory pro­vi­sions; and
3.
the pre­scribed no­ti­fic­a­tions con­cern­ing ac­ces­sions and de­par­tures of mem­bers are made to the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice.738

738 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 902a739  

2. Re­pay­ment of con­tri­bu­tions

 

The rules of the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis to the re­pay­ment of con­tri­bu­tions.

739 In­ser­ted by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 903740  

3. Im­min­ent in­solv­ency, loss of cap­it­al and over­indebted­ness

 

1 The pro­vi­sions of the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares on im­min­ent in­solv­ency, over­indebted­ness and the re­valu­ation of im­mov­able prop­erty and par­ti­cip­a­tions ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.

2 In the case of co­oper­at­ives with share cer­ti­fic­ates, the pro­vi­sions of the law on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares on loss of cap­it­al also ap­ply mu­tatis mutandis.


740 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 904  

VI. Re­turn of pay­ments to mem­bers

 

1 In the event that the co­oper­at­ive be­comes in­solv­ent, the board is ob­liged to re­im­burse the co­oper­at­ive's cred­it­ors for all pay­ments re­ceived in the three years pri­or to the on­set of in­solv­ency in the form of shares in the profit or un­der any oth­er des­ig­na­tion to the ex­tent such pay­ments ex­ceed ad­equate re­mu­ner­a­tion for the con­sid­er­a­tion rendered and should not have been made un­der a prudent ac­count­ing re­gime.

2 Such re­im­burse­ment shall be ex­cluded to the ex­tent that no claim for it ex­ists un­der the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing un­just en­rich­ment.

3 The court shall de­cide at its dis­cre­tion, tak­ing due ac­count of all the cir­cum­stances.

Art. 905  

VII. Dis­missal and sus­pen­sion

 

1 The board may at any time dis­miss the com­mit­tees, busi­ness man­agers, ex­ec­ut­ive of­ficers and oth­er re­gistered at­tor­neys and com­mer­cial agents that it has ap­poin­ted.

2 The re­gistered at­tor­neys and com­mer­cial agents ap­poin­ted by the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers may be sus­pen­ded from their du­ties at any time by the board, provid­ing a gen­er­al meet­ing is con­vened im­me­di­ately.

3 Claims for com­pens­a­tion made by per­sons dis­missed or sus­pen­ded are re­served.

Art. 906741  

C. Ex­tern­al aud­it­or

I. In gen­er­al

 

1 The ex­tern­al aud­it­or is gov­erned mu­tatis mutandis by the pro­vi­sions on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares.

2 An or­din­ary audit of the an­nu­al ac­counts may be re­ques­ted by:

1.
10 per cent of the mem­bers;
2.
mem­bers who to­geth­er rep­res­ent at least 10 per cent of the nom­in­al cap­it­al;
3.
mem­bers who per­son­ally li­able or un­der an ob­lig­a­tion to make ad­di­tion­al cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tions.

741 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 907742  

II. Veri­fic­a­tion of the mem­ber­ship list

 

1 In the case of co­oper­at­ives in which the mem­bers are per­son­ally li­able or li­able to make ad­di­tion­al cap­it­al con­tri­bu­tions, the ex­tern­al aud­it­or must veri­fy that the mem­ber­ship list743 has been kept cor­rectly. If the co­oper­at­ive has no ex­tern­al aud­it­or, the board must ar­range for the mem­ber­ship list744 to be veri­fied by a li­censed aud­it­or.

742 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

743 Re­vised by the Fed­er­al As­sembly Draft­ing Com­mit­tee (Art. 58 para. 1 ParlA; SR 171.10).

744 Re­vised by the Fed­er­al As­sembly Draft­ing Com­mit­tee (Art. 58 para. 1 ParlA; SR 171.10).

Art. 908745  

D. De­fects in or­gan­isa­tion

 

In the case of de­fects in the or­gan­isa­tion of a co­oper­at­ive, the cor­res­pond­ing pro­vi­sions on com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares ap­ply.

745 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 909and910746  
 

746 Re­pealed by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), with ef­fect from 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Section Six: Dissolution of the Cooperative

Art. 911  

A. Grounds for dis­sol­u­tion

 

The co­oper­at­ive shall be dis­solved:

1.
in ac­cord­ance with the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation;
2.
by res­ol­u­tion of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers;
3.
by the com­mence­ment of in­solv­ency pro­ceed­ings;
4.
in the oth­er cases provided for by law.
Art. 912747  

B. Entry in the com­mer­cial re­gister

 

1 The dis­sol­u­tion of a co­oper­at­ive must be entered in the com­mer­cial re­gister.

2 No­tice of dis­sol­u­tion by court judg­ment must be giv­en by the court to the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice im­me­di­ately.

3 No­tice of dis­sol­u­tion on oth­er grounds must be giv­en by the co­oper­at­ive to the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice.

747 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 913  

C. Li­quid­a­tion, dis­tri­bu­tion of as­sets

 

1 The co­oper­at­ive shall be li­quid­ated in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares, sub­ject to the fol­low­ing pro­vi­sions.

2 The as­sets of the dis­solved co­oper­at­ive re­main­ing after pay­ment of all its debts and re­pay­ment of any shares may be dis­trib­uted among the mem­bers only where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide for such dis­tri­bu­tion.

3 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, in this case the as­sets are dis­trib­uted among the mem­bers as at the time of dis­sol­u­tion or their leg­al suc­cessors on a per cap­ita basis. The stat­utory en­ti­tle­ment of de­par­ted mem­bers or their heirs to a fin­an­cial set­tle­ment is re­served.

4 Where the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation make no pro­vi­sion for such dis­tri­bu­tion among the mem­bers, the li­quid­a­tion sur­plus must be used for the co­oper­at­ive’s pur­pose or to pro­mote char­it­able causes.

5 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers shall de­cide on this mat­ter.

Art. 914748  

D. ...

 

748 Re­pealed by An­nex No 2 of the Mer­gers Act of 3 Oct. 2003, with ef­fect from 1 Ju­ly 2004 (AS 2004 2617; BBl 2000 4337).

Art. 915  

E. Takeover by a pub­lic sec­tor cor­por­a­tion

 

1 Where the as­sets of a co­oper­at­ive are taken over by the Con­fed­er­a­tion, by a can­ton or, un­der guar­an­tee from the can­ton, by a dis­trict or com­mune, with the con­sent of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers it may be agreed that no li­quid­a­tion will take place.

2 The res­ol­u­tion of the gen­er­al as­sembly of mem­bers must be made in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing dis­sol­u­tion and no­tice there­of giv­en to the com­mer­cial re­gister of­fice.

3 On entry of such res­ol­u­tion in the com­mer­cial re­gister, the trans­fer of the co­oper­at­ive’s as­sets and debts is com­plete and the co­oper­at­ive's name must be de­leted.

Section Seven: Liability

Art. 916749  

A. Li­ab­il­ity to the co­oper­at­ive

 

All per­sons en­gaged in the ad­min­is­tra­tion, busi­ness man­age­ment or audit­ing or li­quid­a­tion of the co­oper­at­ive are li­able to the co­oper­at­ive for the losses arising from any wil­ful or neg­li­gent breach of their du­ties.

749 Amended by No I 3 of the FA of 16 Dec. 2005 (Law on Lim­ited Li­ab­il­ity Com­pan­ies and Amend­ments to the Law on Com­pan­ies lim­ited by Shares, Co­oper­at­ives, the Com­mer­cial Re­gister and Busi­ness Names), in force since 1 Jan. 2008 (AS 2007 4791; BBl 2002 3148, 2004 3969).

Art. 917  

B. Li­ab­il­ity to the co­oper­at­ive, mem­bers and cred­it­ors

 

1 Any dir­ect­or or li­quid­at­or who wil­fully or neg­li­gently breaches their stat­utory du­ties with re­gard to the over­indebted­ness of the co­oper­at­ive is li­able to the co­oper­at­ive, the in­di­vidu­al mem­bers and the cred­it­ors for the losses arising.

2 Claims for com­pens­a­tion for losses suffered by the mem­bers and the cred­it­ors only in­dir­ectly through harm done to the co­oper­at­ive must be brought in ac­cord­ance with the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares.

Art. 918  

C. Joint and sev­er­al li­ab­il­ity and re­course

 

1 Where two or more per­sons are re­spons­ible for the same loss, they are jointly and sev­er­ally li­able.

2 The right of re­course among sev­er­al de­fend­ants shall be de­term­ined by the court with due re­gard to the de­gree of fault.

Art. 919750  

D. Pre­scrip­tion

 

1 A claim for dam­ages against any per­son held li­able un­der the above pro­vi­sions pre­scribes three years after the date on which the per­son suf­fer­ing dam­age learned of the dam­age and of the per­son li­able for it but in any event ten years after the date on which the harm­ful con­duct took place or ceased.751

2 If the per­son li­able has com­mit­ted a crim­in­al of­fence through his or her harm­ful con­duct, then the right to dam­ages or sat­is­fac­tion pre­scribes at the earli­est when the right to pro­sec­ute the of­fence be­comes time-barred. If the right to pro­sec­ute is no longer li­able to be­come time-barred be­cause a first in­stance crim­in­al judg­ment has been is­sued, the right to claim dam­ages or sat­is­fac­tion pre­scribes at the earli­est three years after no­tice of the judg­ment is giv­en.

750 Amended by No I of the FA of 15 June 2018 (Re­vi­sion of the Law on Pre­scrip­tion), in force since 1 Jan. 2020 (AS 2018 5343; BBl 2014 235).

751 Amended by No I of the FA of 19 June 2020 (Com­pany Law), in force since 1 Jan. 2023 (AS 2020 4005; 2022 109; BBl 2017 399).

Art. 920  

E. Li­ab­il­ity in cred­it and in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives

 

In the case of cred­it co­oper­at­ives and li­censed in­sur­ance co­oper­at­ives, li­ab­il­ity shall be de­term­ined ac­cord­ing to the pro­vi­sions gov­ern­ing com­pan­ies lim­ited by shares.

Section Eight: Cooperative Unions

Art. 921  

A. Re­quire­ments

 

Three or more co­oper­at­ives may form a co­oper­at­ive uni­on and con­sti­tute it as a co­oper­at­ive.

Art. 922  

B. Or­gan­isa­tion

I. As­sembly of del­eg­ates

 

1 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, the su­preme gov­ern­ing body of the co­oper­at­ive uni­on shall be the as­sembly of del­eg­ates.

2 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation shall de­term­ine the num­ber of del­eg­ates from the af­fil­i­ated so­ci­et­ies.

3 Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, each del­eg­ate shall have one vote.

Art. 923  

II. Board

 

Un­less the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation provide oth­er­wise, the board shall be made up of mem­bers from the af­fil­i­ated co­oper­at­ives.

Art. 924  

III. Mon­it­or­ing, chal­lenge

 

1 The art­icles of as­so­ci­ation may grant the board of the uni­on the right to mon­it­or the busi­ness activ­it­ies of the af­fil­i­ated co­oper­at­ives.

2 They may the grant the board of the uni­on the right to chal­lenge in court the res­ol­u­tions made by the in­di­vidu­al af­fil­i­ated so­ci­et­ies.

Art. 925  

IV. Ex­clu­sion of new ob­lig­a­tions

 

Ac­ces­sion to a co­oper­at­ive uni­on may not bring with it any ob­lig­a­tions for the mem­bers of the ac­ced­ing co­oper­at­ive which they do not already have by law or un­der the art­icles of as­so­ci­ation of their own co­oper­at­ive.

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