The principle one member, one vote has characterized cooperative governance at least since the

Rochdale Societys establishment, in the rules of which this principle was enshrined together with the
equality of the sexes in membership.170

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More precisely, in the ICA Statement these aspects of cooperative governance appear rst in the
denition of a cooperative as an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily; then in the
2nd ICA principle where cooperatives are referred to as democratic organizations controlled by their
members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions; and nally in the
4th ICA principle, which after restating that cooperatives are autonomous entities con- trolled by
their members, afrms that if they enter into agreements with other organizations, including
governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic
control by their members and maintain their cooperative autonomy.

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There are two possible interpretations of the principle of open membership as stated in the ICA
Principles. First, cooperative membership could be considered open only to the extent that anyone
who can make use of the services provided by the cooperative (namely, anyone who can consume
those goods or services provided by the cooperative, can provide those goods or services employed
by the cooperative for conducting its economic activity, or can work for the cooperative) and is willing
to accept the responsibilities of membership (which, in light of the dual nature of cooperative
members, includes both contributing capital and, above all, participating in cooperative transactions)
is entitled to become a member, so that the cooperative is obligated to admit any applicant for
membership. Second, cooperative membership could be considered open simply to the extent that
a cooperative is prohibited from refusing membership on the basis of gender, social, racial, political
or religious grounds.

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In light of the above, cooperative law should neither grant cooperative members the right to withdraw
at will, nor permit the cooperative to bar withdrawal. Cooperative law should identify some
circumstances under which cooperative members have the right to withdraw and as for the rest leave
cooperative by-laws the power to regulate the matterfor example, by subjecting withdrawal to
partic- ular conditions or to a period of notice or by reserving to the cooperative the right to delay
repayment of shares for a periodwithout however excluding it completely or rendering its exercise
excessively onerous for members. In general, although there is great variety on this point, this is how
cooperative law deals with this issue.

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The International Labor Organizations (ILO) Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002

(ILO R. 193)4 constitutes the nucleus of this public international law. In addition to recommending a
wide gamut of promotional policy measures, it calls repeatedly upon legislatures to provide for an
adequate cooperative law.5 It is the rst and only instrument of universal applicability on cooperative
law adopted by an international governmental organization.

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Paragraph 3(b) and the Annex are therefore closely linked to the equal treatment principle. They
require that the legislature respond to the repeated68 call by the ILO R. 193 to reestablish and
maintain the cooperative identity by basing the coopera- tive law on the cooperative values and
principles. The wording of par. 3(b) and of the Annex is clear: These values and principles are those
enshrined in the ICA Statement. The rst four of the seven principles, as well as the sixth one and the
seventh one (voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; mem- ber economic
participation; autonomy and independence; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for
community) relate directly to the structure of cooperatives, while the fth one (education, training
and information) is of a more general character.

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