                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

ORGANIZATION OF COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATIONS; PURPOSES; NAME; PAR VALUE STOCK
REQUIRED (§ 13.1-301)

A. Any number of persons, not less than five, may, under the provisions of
Article 3 (&#xA7; 13.1-618 et seq.) of Chapter 9 or Article 3 (&#xA7; 13.1-818
et seq.) of Chapter 10, associate themselves together as a cooperative
association, society, company or exchange, for the purpose of (i) conducting any
housing, agricultural, fishing, dairy, mercantile, merchandise, brokerage,
water, sewer, manufacturing, service or mechanical business on the cooperative
plan or (ii) representing or providing financing for cooperative associations,
societies, companies, or exchanges organized pursuant to the laws of this
Commonwealth or any other state, provided that the word
&#8220;cooperative&#8221; shall be included as a part of the name. Except for a
cooperative association organized to conduct business as a water or sewer
company, no cooperative association organized under this article shall conduct
any business in this Commonwealth as a public service company or exercise any
privileges of such company.

B. The provisions of Chapter 9 (&#xA7; 13.1-601 et seq.) or 10 (&#xA7; 13.1-801
et seq.), as the case may be, shall apply to cooperative associations created
under this section or subject to the provisions of this article, except so far
as the same are in conflict with the following sections of this article which
shall be applicable only to such cooperative associations, and except that no
stock cooperative association shall issue stock without nominal or par value.

C. To the extent that the application of the provisions of this article to any
worker cooperative established under Article 3 (&#xA7; 13.1-346 et seq.)
conflicts with the provisions of Article 3, the provisions of Article 3 shall
control.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 13-238; 1952, c. 668; 1956, c. 428; 1986, c. 363; 1992,
cc. 155, 653; 1994, c. 217; 2020, c. 673.