French Commercial code
In forceThe purpose of retailer co-operatives is to improve, through the joint efforts of their members, the conditions under which their members carry out their commercial activities. To this end, they may in particular carry on the following activities directly or indirectly on behalf of their members:
1° Supplying their members, in whole or in part, with the goods, commodities or services, equipment and materials necessary for the exercise of their trade, in particular by building up and maintaining any stock of goods, building, acquiring or leasing as well as managing specific shops and warehouses, carrying out in their establishments or in those of their members any useful operations, transformations and modernisation ;
2° To group together on the same premises the businesses belonging to their associates, to create and manage all services common to the operation of these businesses, to construct, acquire or lease the buildings necessary for their activity or that of their associates, and to ensure their management, all under the conditions provided for in Chapter V of this title ;
3° Within the framework of legislative provisions concerning financial activities, facilitate access by members and their customers to various means of financing and credit;
3° bis Organise financial cooperation between members, in particular through the formation of companies, operating under their direct or indirect control and whose purpose is to provide support by all means for the purchase, creation and development of businesses, in compliance with the provisions specific to credit institutions. The majority of the capital of companies formed in this way must be held by cooperatives and cooperative members; in no case may non-cooperative members together hold more than 35% of the total voting rights. When the share of capital held by the non-cooperating members exceeds this limit, the number of voting rights is reduced proportionately;
4° To carry out activities complementary to those set out above, and in particular to provide their members with assistance in technical, financial and accounting management;
5° To purchase businesses whose management lease is granted within two months to a member and which must be retroceded within a maximum period of seven years. Failure to transfer the business within this period may give rise to an injunction in accordance with the procedures defined in the second paragraph of article L. 124-15;
6° Define and implement by all means a common commercial policy suitable for ensuring the development and activity of its associates, in particular:
- by setting up an appropriate legal organisation;
- by making available signs or brands owned or enjoyed by them;
- by carrying out advertising or non-advertising commercial operations that may involve joint pricing;
- by developing common methods and models for purchasing, product assortment and presentation, architecture and shop organisation;
- by developing and managing an online sales platform;
7° Taking shareholdings, even majority shareholdings, in directly or indirectly associated companies operating businesses.
