In November 2022, the Government published the General Scheme of
the Co-Operative Societies Bill 2022 (the "General
Scheme"), which aims, amongst other things, to place
the co-operative model on a comparable legal basis as the company
law model.
The new legislation will seek to consolidate and modernise the
existing provisions, much of which come from the Industrial and
Provident Societies Acts 1893-2021 which will largely be replaced
under the new legislative framework. The new legislation proposes,
amongst other things, modern provisions relating to corporate
governance, shares, raising of funds, charges and debentures and
will reflect the approach adopted in the Companies Act 2014 (the
"2014 Act"). This is expected to make
co-operatives more investor-friendly. Existing industrial and
provident societies will have a transitional period in which to
register as a co-operative society, adopt an alternative corporate
structure, or wind up and be dissolved.
