Perspectives of Cooperative Law Development in Europe. Legal Innovations and Obstacles for Cooperatives Advancement

The Cooperative Research Institute in Sopot kindly invites to the conference: Perspectives of Cooperative Law Development in Europe. Legal Innovations and Obstacles for Cooperatives Advancement.

The conference will take place in Warsaw, at the office of the National Cooperative Council, from 7th to 8th of March 2024. A detailed program of the conference will be made available at a later date.

Conference background and themes

Cooperatives are an important part of European countries economies and play crucial role in social economy. Througout the European countries legislations on cooperatives are differentlly organized. Cooperatives are considered either as a genus of a legal person or as a species of a company or association. Few legislations constitutionally guarantee the role of cooperatives in state’s economy. Some counties have only general law on cooperatives, other completes the general regulation with a number of laws on specific types of cooperatives. The are also legislations which only provide a number of legal acts on specific types of cooperatives. Moreover, some legislations have regulations on cooperatives which are applicable in authonomus regions. Yet another countries have codified there cooperative law. Also, EU law constantlly provides legislations with which cooperatives have to comply.

In this mosaic of legislations it is crucial for the development of cooperatives to identify legal institutions that give them perspectives to grow and those that are obstacles in cooperatives advancement. It is essential that cooperatives’ regulation comply with the Cooperative Principles, since they are the mostly tested provisions for a cooperative and guarantee preservation of their identity. The legislations address Cooperative Principles either directly or inderectly and it is not yet determined which way provides better solutions for preserving a cooperative identity.

Also, specific types of cooperatives are subject to states supervision which can interfere with cooperative governence and capital requirements. This concerns esspecially financial cooperatives: credit unions and cooperative banks. Sometimes legislation allows cooperatives to conduct supervision by second tier cooperatives and therefore preserves their authonomy and independence.

In Poland, cooperative movement developed since 1816 and first Polish regulation on cooperatives was introduced in 1919 followed by an Cooperative law of 1920. After World War II cooperatives were subject to controle by the Soviet influenced comunnist regime. Yet numerus housing and agricultural cooperatives were operating. It is since the fall of communist regime that cooperatives experience rebirth, esspecially it the field of financial services (credit unions), social economy (esspecially social cooperatives) and states infuenced housing development programs which also concern housing cooperatives. However, cooperatives are also subject to inadequacy in supervision and lack of understanding by the legislator and jurisprudence.

The papers presented at the conference may concern:

1. Cooperative Principles and its implementation by the legislator.
2. Social economy and cooperatives role in its development.
3. New regulations on cooperative governence and audit.
4. Regulations and essential of cooperative transactions.
5. Members role in cooperative development and control.
6. Formulas of cooperation between cooperatives.
7. Financing the cooperative with preserving its authonomy.
8. State role in pursuing cooperative development.
9. Cooperatives under competition and consumers law.
10. Bankruptcy and dissolution of the cooperative.

Conference language

Conference language is English. Simultaneously translation will be provided.

Abstract and sessions proposals submissions

Abstract submission opens 1st of September 2023 and is open until 30th of October 2023.

Abstracts should be submitted in the following form:

• Title (maximum 20 words)

• Body of the abstract (maximum 1000 words, including references) that should follow the following structure: Background, Aims, Methods, Results and discussion, Contributions and implications, Key references
• Keywords (1 to 5)

Session proposals should be submitted in the following form:

• Title of the proposed session (maximum 20 words)
• Description of the proposed session (maximum 1000 words) that should follow thefollowing structure: Name and affiliation of the participants, Motivation for the session,Content of the session, Proposed format.
• Keywords (1 to 5)

Abstracts and session proposals should be submitted at: [email protected] Notification of acceptence of the abstract or session proposal: 15th of November 2023.

Postconference publication

Spółdzielczy Instytut Naukowy w Sopocie, ul. Władysława IV 22, 81-743 Sopot www.sin.edu.pl; www.prawoiwiez.edu.pl

The authors of the selected abstracts will be invited to develop them in to full papers (maximum of 30,000 words, including references). The papers will be published in Law and Social Bonds

joural (online ISSN 2719-3594) which is included in Scopus and ERIH Plus.

Registration deadline and fees
Registration is open until 22nd of February 2024.

Registation form with the fee payment confirmation should be send at:

[email protected]

Early bird registration (deadline 31st of December 2024):

Conference, 8 – 9 of February 2024: 100 Euro + VAT; 440 PLN + VAT

Registation fee (deadline 22nd of February 2024):

Conference, 8 – 9 of February 2024: 150 Euro + VAT; 660 PLN + VAT. Conference dinner, 8 of February 2024: 80 Euro + VAT; 350 PLN + VAT.

• Please note the respective registration fees shall only be valid if registration is submitted and full payment is received by us by the respective deadline. If payment of the registration fee is received later than the early deadline registration, the respective next higher fee shall be due.
• Your registration is effective upon the receipt of full payment of the registration fee by us, i.e. only those participants having fully paid their registration fees will be entitled to participate in the conference.
• The conference registration fee includes: (1) access to all conference lectures; (2) conference programme and materials; (3) lunches and coffee breaks.

Scientific Committee

prof. Dominik Bierecki, PhD – Chair (Pomeranian University in Słupsk, Cooperative Research Institute in Sopot and IUS Cooperativum)
prof. Piotr Pałka, PhD (Sopot Academy of Applied Science, Cooperative Research Institute in Sopot)

prof. David Hiez, PhD (University of Luxemburg and IUS Cooperativum) Jacek Skoczek, PhD (Cooperative Research Institute in Sopot)
Joanna Mędrzecka (Cooperative Research Institute in Sopot)
Ewa Derc (Cooperative Research Institute in Sopot)

Conference format

Hybrid: in person and online participation

Conference Address

National Cooperative Council office: Jasna 1, 00-013 Warsaw, Poland „Dom pod Orłami”

 

Spółdzielczy Instytut Naukowy w Sopocie, ul. Władysława IV 22, 81-743 Sopot www.sin.edu.pl; www.prawoiwiez.edu.pl

Publication Date: April 2024
Deadline for Submissions: 30^th of June 2023

Submission Requirements:

• Language: English
• No length limitation
• Submitted File Format: Word Document
• Submitted File Name: “SURNAME, FIRST NAME – TITLE OF CONTRIBUTION”

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      Detailed instructions below
The International Journal of Cooperative Law (IJCL), edited by Ius Cooperativum Association (an international group of cooperative lawyers), is the first ever academic, peer reviewed, online, open access journal explicitly focused on cooperative law.
The previous four issues have been published and are available at the following link <https://iuscooperativum.org/issues/>
 
The focus of the IJCL is cooperative law, broadly defined all those legal rules – laws, administrative acts, court decisions, jurisprudence, cooperative bylaws/statutes or any other source of law – which regulate the structure and/or the operations of cooperatives as enterprises in the economic sense and as institutions in the legal sense, including provisions from other areas of law, applicable to cooperatives (such as tax law, labor law, competition law). Its purpose is to stimulate the development of an international thinking in cooperative law and to include cooperative law into the major academic debates about the future of business law or the regulation of enterprises.


IJCL publishes articles, reviews, case studies, case-law commentaries, empirical research pieces or book reviews for a wider audience on topics related to national, regional or international cooperative law, including transnational and comparative perspectives. The IJCL has no geographical limitation nor one by legal traditions; it seeks to cover cooperative law worldwide. Contributions through the lens of law per se will be complemented with other approaches, such as the approaches of law and economics, political and social sciences. The IJCL is mainly addressed to legal scholars and academics, without excluding practitioners and professionals with an interest in the field.
 
Part of the 6^th issue of IJCL will be dedicated to housing cooperatives and whether and how they are regulated by law, as the growing interest on this specific cooperative type brings to the fore key relevant legal questions to be investigated and addressed.
 
For this reason, we wish to invite authors to submit their contribution either on general topics of cooperative law or focused on particular aspects of housing cooperative law.
 
LANGUAGE
The language of the journal is English. Nevertheless, contributions may also be submitted in French, German or Spanish. If accepted, the author will be invited to translate the manuscript into English.
 
PROCESS
The contributions will be subject to an anonymous peer-reviewing process, during which the article will be evaluated, and a decision will be made for the article’s acceptance, revision or rejection.  
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES


Structure of contribution: 
 
At the first page, please write down the title of your contribution, your surname, first name and affiliation. Please also include an abstract. A bibliography shall be at the end of the contribution.
 
File to be send:
 
Please send your contribution before the 30^th of June 2023 by email under the subject: “Submission for the 6^th issue of IJCL” to [email protected] 

Background on the International Forum on Cooperative Law

After the first International Forum on Cooperative Law, held in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 2016, the second such event in Athens, Greece, in 2018, and the third forum, in Seoul, South Korea, in 2021, on cooperative identity and harmonization of Cooperative Law, the fourth International Forum of Cooperative Law will take place in San Sebastian, Basque Country, in 2023, on the principle of cooperation among cooperatives.
The Ius Cooperativum is an international association of cooperative lawyers, which publishes the International Journal of Cooperative Law. The international forums have been organized by Ius Cooperativum since 2016, meeting every two years. The forums bring together lawyers who are interested in cooperative law on a worldwide basis, and cooperative law in different countries and continents.

The 4th International Forum of Cooperative Law is organized with the support of GEZKI (Gizarte Ekonomia eta Zuzenbide Kooperatiboaren Institutua / Institute of Social Economy and Cooperative Law), the Faculty of Law of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). The theme of this Forum is: “The principle of cooperation among cooperatives: a principle of the past or for the future?”

“The principle of cooperation among cooperatives: a principle of the past or for the future?”

Cooperation among cooperatives has been a key feature since the very beginning of cooperative history. On the one hand, the first step of the development of the consumer cooperatives was the establishment of wholesale firms, as an expression of economic cooperation. On the other hand, in 1895, the ICA was established as a tool for international political cooperation. These are the two pillars on which the cooperative movement was built in the 20th Century. This arangement could find proximities with some political thinking, such as federalism, communalism, or autogestion. The sixth principle of the Declaration on the cooperative identity, adopted by the ICA, in 1995, reads: “Cooperatives serve most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.”

But the context has changed: globalisation, financialisation, virtualisation, and the emergence of environmental problems…The cooperation among cooperatives has adopted new forms, has been challenged by new practices, and shall go on creating new solutions. It is important not only to deepen the various existing forms of that cooperation, but also to elaborate on its future.

Cooperative Law is concerned by these two directions. On the one hand, cooperative law can facilitate or put some constraints on the establishment of cooperation, either generally or to some specific cooperation. This may explain, at least partly, the successes and fails of inter-cooperation. On the other hand, cooperative law is also evidence of the deeper essence of cooperatives and, in that sense, it may reveal some specificities compared to companies. This may help to better understand what is the essence of a cooperative. This is particularly useful when the cooperative model may be used to elaborate a social and solidarity economy law, and, more generally, an alternative model for business. To investigate the way cooperative law treats inter-cooperation, and can do so in the future, it is proposed to the forum speakers to focus on one of these sub-topics:

● Different formulas for economic or political cooperation among cooperatives;
● The adaptation of regulation to secondary cooperatives ;
● The transactions between a secondary cooperative and cooperative members ;
● The impediments to cooperatives to provide financial services ;
● The cooperation among cooperatives of a different nature ;
● The competition law opposed to cooperation ;
● The creation of subsidiaries as an alternative to cooperation;
● The interrelation of cooperation among cooperatives, and cooperative principles; ● The management of conflicts within structures of cooperation, especially in cooperative groups (conflicts of interests).

Proposals for communications on other aspects of Cooperative Law will also be considered.

Details for submissions
Participants interested in presenting a paper are kindly invited to send an abstract of a maximum of 300 words, in English, before the 31st of March 2023 to [email protected]

Scientific committee
Douvitsa, Ifigeneia (Greece); Hiez, David (Luxembourg); Cracogna, Dante (Argentina); Fajardo, Gemma (Spain); Kurimoto, Akira (Japan); Meira, Deolinda (Portugal); Henrÿ, Hagen (Finland); Prasad, Bhagwati (India), Tadjudje, Willy (Africa); Van der Sangen, Ger (Netherlands); Otxoa-Errarte Goikoetxea, Rosa (Spain). Organizing committee Villafáñez Pérez, Itziar (GEZKI, Ius Cooperativum); Bengoetxea Alkorta, Aitor (GEZKI, Ius Cooperativum); Hiez, David (Université du Luxembourg, Ius Cooperativum); Emparanza Sobejano, Alberto (Faculty of Law UPV/EHU); Etxebarria Rubio, Ane (GEZKI); Ruiz Martínez, Aingeru (GEZKI); Kumar, Santosh (ICA Cooperative Law Commitee); Agirre, Ana (ICA youth network).

Notification of acceptance of the abstract
Participants will be notified by the beginning of May 2023 about the acceptance or rejection of their abstract. There is no travel or allowance provided to the selected presenters.

Date and place of the Forum
The 4th International Forum on Cooperative Law will take place on 29th November to 1st December 2023, in San Sebastian, Basque Country.

Conference language
English, Spanish and Basque

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

FOR THE 5^th ISSUE OF THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COOPERATIVE LAW

Publication Date: NOVEMBER 2022

Deadline for Submissions: 15  JANUARY 2022

Submission Requirements:

• Language: English
• No length limitation
• Submitted File Format: Word Document
• Submitted File Name: “SURNAME, FIRST NAME – TITLE OF CONTRIBUTION”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      Detailed instructions below

The International Journal of Cooperative Law (IJCL), edited by Ius Cooperativum Association (an international group of cooperative lawyers), is the first ever academic, peer reviewed, online, open access journal explicitly focused on cooperative law.

The previous four issues have been published and are available at the following link <https://iuscooperativum.org/issues/>

The focus of the IJCL is cooperative law, broadly defined all those legal rules – laws, administrative acts, court decisions, jurisprudence, cooperative bylaws/statutes or any other source of law – which regulate the structure and/or the operations of cooperatives as enterprises in the economic sense and as institutions in the legal sense, including provisions from other areas of law, applicable to cooperatives (such as tax law, labor law, competition law). Its purpose is to stimulate the development of an international thinking in cooperative law and to include cooperative law into the major academic debates about the future of business law or the regulation of enterprises.

IJCL publishes articles, reviews, case studies, case-law commentaries, empirical research pieces or book reviews for a wider audience on topics related to national, regional or international cooperative law, including transnational and comparative perspectives. The IJCL has no geographical limitation nor one by legal traditions; it seeks to cover cooperative law worldwide. Contributions through the lens of law per se will be complemented with other approaches, such as the approaches of law and economics, political and social sciences. The IJCL is mainly addressed to legal scholars and academics, without excluding practitioners and professionals with an interest in the field.

Part of this issue of the IJCL will be dedicated to the cooperative legislation in Asia, which presents some particular traits that are of interest for the scientific community.

We wish to invite authors to submit their contribution either on general topics of cooperative legislation or focused on the cooperative legislation in Asia.

LANGUAGE
The language of the journal is English. Nevertheless, contributions may also be submitted in French, German or Spanish. If accepted, the author will be invited to translate the manuscript into English.

PROCESS
The contributions will be subject to an anonymous peer-reviewing process, during which the article will be evaluated, and a decision will be made for the article’s acceptance, revision or rejection.  

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Structure of contribution:

At the first page, please write down the title of your contribution, your surname, first name and affiliation. Please also include an abstract. A bibliography shall be at the end of the contribution.

File to be send:

Please send your contribution by email under the subject: “Submission for the 5^rd issue of IJCL” to [email protected]