What documents must cooperatives keep according to law?

What documents must cooperatives keep? Will the cooperative be fined if it is not kept?

1. What documents must cooperatives keep?

According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 10 of the 2012 Cooperative Law, cooperatives must keep the following documents:

– Charter, amended and supplemented charter and regulations of the cooperative; member registration number.

– Cooperative registration certificate; intellectual property rights protection certificate; product and goods quality registration certificate; conditional business license.

– Documents, certificates of ownership and right to use assets of the cooperative.

– Application to join, certificate of capital contribution of members; minutes and resolutions of the founding conference, general meeting of members, and board of directors; decisions of the cooperative.

– Reports on production and business results, reports and other documents of the board of directors, director (general director), control board or controller; conclusions of inspection, examination and auditing agencies.

– Accounting books, accounting documents, financial reports.

2. Will cooperatives be fined if they do not keep documents according to regulations?

The administrative penalty level for cooperatives that do not keep documents according to the provisions of Point d, Clause 1, Point c, Clause 3, Article 65 Decree 122/2021/ND-CP is as follows:

Violations regarding the operations of cooperatives and cooperative unions commune

1. Fine from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND for one of the following acts:

a) Failure to organize the Annual General Meeting of members of the cooperative or cooperative union within 03 months from the end of the fiscal year;

b) Failure to prepare a member registration book after being granted the Registration Certificate registration of cooperatives, cooperative unions or membership registration books with incomplete content as prescribed;

c) Failure to provide information or providing incomplete, untimely, inaccurate information about production, business, financial activities, income distribution and other contents as prescribed;

d) Failure to retain documents of cooperatives and unions of cooperatives according to regulations.

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3. Remedial measures:

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c) Forced storage of documents of cooperatives and unions of cooperatives according to regulations for violations specified in Point d, Clause 1 of this Article;

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According to Clause 2, Article 4, Decree 122/2021/ND-CP stipulates the fine levels as follows:

Fine level

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2. The fines specified in this Decree are the fines applicable to organizations (except the fines specified in Point c, Clause 2, Article 28; Points a and b, Clause 2, Article 38; Article 62 and Article 63 of this Decree are the fines applicable to individuals). For the same administrative violation, the fine for individuals is equal to 1/2 (one-half) of the fine for organizations.

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Accordingly, cooperatives that do not retain documents may be subject to administrative penalties with fines ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND and forced to store documents according to regulations.

3. What is the statute of limitations for administrative penalties for cooperatives that do not maintain documents as prescribed?

Pursuant to Article 5 of Decree 122/2021/ND-CP stipulating the statute of limitations and the time to determine the statute of limitations for sanctioning administrative violations as follows:

Statute of limitations and time to determine the statute of limitations for sanctioning administrative violations

1. The statute of limitations for sanctioning administrative violations in the fields of investment, bidding, and business registration is 01 year; For the planning field, it is 02 years.

2. Administrative violations specified in Article 7; Article 9; Article 10; Article 13; Article 14; Clause 2, Article 15; Clause 3, Article 16; Article 17; Article 18; Article 19; Article 20; Article 21; Article 22; Article 23; Article 24; Article 30; Article 36; Article 37; Article 43; Article 44; Article 45; Article 46; Article 47; Article 48; Article 49; Article 50; Article 51; Article 52; Article 53; Article 54; Article 55; Article 56; Article 57; Article 58; Article 59; Article 60; Article 61; Article 62; Article 63; Article 64; Article 65; Article 66; Article 67; Article 68, Article 69; Article 70; Articles 71 and 72 of this Decree are ongoing administrative violations.

For ongoing violations, the statute of limitations is calculated from the time the violation is discovered. In case the violation has ended, the statute of limitations is calculated from the time the violation ended.

3. The administrative violations specified in this Decree (except for the administrative violations specified in Clause 2 of this Article, Article 12 and Article 25) are administrative violations that have ended.

For violations that have ended, the statute of limitations is calculated from the time of termination of the violation.

Thus, the statute of limitations for sanctioning administrative violations for cooperatives is not Document retention according to regulations is 01 year.