The Governance Forum on Consumer Affairs (formerly the Ministerial Council on Consumer Affairs) has agreed to adopt the Co-operatives National Law (CNL). In 2007, state and territory governments agreed to implement nationally uniform legislation for co-operatives, to address inconsistent state and territory legislation and competitive disadvantages that exist in comparison to entities operating under the Corporations Act 2001. The objectives of the CNL are to ensure that there are no competitive advantages or disadvantages for co-operatives when compared to corporations by providing:
- freedom to operate on a national basis;
- better access to external capital funding;
- simplified reporting for small co-operatives; and
- an accessible modern legislative environment.
The introduction and operation of the CNL will be managed through the Australian Uniform Co-operatives Legislative Agreement. Under the Agreement, New South Wales (NSW) will enact the Law as the host jurisdiction and all other jurisdictions will then have 12 months to apply the legislation or enact alternative consistent legislation. The Commonwealth Government is not a party to the Agreement. The Decision RIS was prepared by NSW Fair Trading and was assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.
- Co-operatives: A National Approach Decision RIS – RTF version [
- 240KB] - Co-operatives: A National Approach Decision RIS – PDF version [
- 219KB]
- Appendix 1: Proposed Co-operatives National Law – RTF version [ - 290KB]
- Appendix 1: Proposed Co-operatives National Law – PDF version [ - 197KB]