What issues are cooperative members provided with information about? Will cooperatives that do not provide information to members be fined?

What issues are cooperative members provided with information about?

Issues that cooperative members are provided with information as prescribed in Article 7 of the 2012 Cooperative Law are as follows: following:

Principles of organization and operations

1. Individuals, households, and legal entities voluntarily establish, join, and leave cooperatives. Cooperatives voluntarily establish, join, and leave cooperative unions.

2. Cooperatives and cooperative unions widely admit members and member cooperatives.

3. Members and member cooperatives have equal rights and equal voting rights regardless of capital contribution in deciding on the organization, management and operations of cooperatives and unions of cooperatives; are provided with complete, timely and accurate information on production, business, financial activities, income distribution and other contents according to the provisions of the charter.

4. Cooperatives and cooperative unions are autonomous and responsible for their own activities before the law.

5. Members, member cooperatives and cooperatives, unions of cooperatives are responsible for implementing commitments under the service contract and according to the provisions of the charter. Income of cooperatives and cooperative unions is distributed mainly according to the level of use of products and services by members and member cooperatives or according to the labor contributions of members to job-creating cooperatives.

6. Cooperatives and unions of cooperatives pay attention to education, training and fostering for members, member cooperatives, managers, employees in cooperatives and unions of cooperatives and information about the nature and benefits of cooperatives and unions of cooperatives.

7. Cooperatives and cooperative unions take care of sustainable development of member communities and member cooperatives and cooperate with each other to develop the cooperative movement on a local, regional, national and international scale.

According to the above regulations, cooperative members will be provided with complete, timely and accurate information about production, business, financial activities, income distribution and other contents according to the provisions of the charter.

Will cooperatives that do not provide information to members be fined?

Administrative penalties for cooperatives that do not provide information to members are specified in Point c Clause 1, Point b Clause 3 Article 65 Decree 122/2021/ND-CP as follows:

Violations of operations of cooperatives and cooperative unions

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

…

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

…

3. Remedial measures:

…

b) Forced provision of information or additional complete and accurate information about production, business, financial activities, income distribution and other contents as prescribed for violations specified in Point c, Clause 1 of this Article;

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

Fine level

…

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; Articles 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.

Accordingly, cooperatives that do not provide information (on production, business, financial activities, income distribution and other content according to regulations) to members may be subject to administrative sanctions with fines ranging from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND.

At the same time, this cooperative is also forced to provide complete and accurate information about production, business, financial activities, income distribution and other contents according to regulations.

What is the statute of limitations for administrative penalties for cooperatives that fail to provide information to members?

Pursuant to Article 5 of Decree 122/2021/ND-CP stipulating the statute of limitations and 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 administrative violations in progress.

For violations in progress, 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 the violation ended.

Thus, the statute of limitations for administrative sanctions for cooperatives that do not provide information to members is 01 year.