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Law 13/2013, 2 August, Promoting The Integration Of Cooperatives And Other Agri-Food Associative Entities.

Original Language Title: Ley 13/2013, de 2 de agosto, de fomento de la integración de cooperativas y de otras entidades asociativas de carácter agroalimentario.

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TEXT

JOHN CARLOS I

KING OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand it.

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following law.

PREAMBLE

I

Agricultural associationism, as a general phenomenon, and cooperatives in particular, are the protagonists of the great change experienced in the Spanish agri-food sector, contributing to the vertebrate of the territory, in giving continuity of agricultural activity, promoting rural employment and having a special capacity to be an engine for economic and social development, thus promoting the viability and sustainability of our rural areas.

For illustrative purposes, it can be noted that the cooperative sector is comprised of about 4,000 entities and 1,200,000 partners, being in the set of Spanish agri-food production, with a turnover of 17.405 million In 2011, a capital segment of our agricultural associative fabric, to which a growing number of non-cooperative associative entities such as the agrarian transformation societies (SAT), the organizations of the producers and commercial and civil entities, which are the backbone of the primary Spanish agricultural production, as well as contributing to and improving territorial cohesion through the generation of stable and quality employment by offering new services to the citizens of rural areas.

It is, however, a sector characterized by its atomization that is causing even the best structured entities to be seeing their efforts and investments profitable, and it is necessary to put in place measures to promote the integration and empowerment of cooperative and associative base trade groups, with implementation and scope of action superior to that of an autonomous community, which will be able to operate throughout the chain agri-food, both in national and international markets and which contribute to to improve farmers ' incomes and to consolidate an agro-food industrial fabric in our rural areas.

II

order to correct the disadvantages caused by the aforementioned atomization, the government has set itself as a priority axis of action to promote and promote cooperative and associative integration, in the belief that it will favor the competitiveness, redimensioning, modernisation and internationalisation of these entities, in the framework of structural reforms to improve the economy and competitiveness of the country.

this end, a series of obstacles to the integration of the former PAC have to be overcome with the different mechanisms of regulation called to disappear and the increasing volatility of the markets. In addition to the localist vision of the associative sector, without sufficient development in the field of marketing. All this limits the efficient use of economies of scale and scope that any integration process is immersed in.

III

The promotion of the marketing and economic capacity of the producer sector, in particular through the integration of cooperatives and other legal forms of agricultural associationism, makes it possible to achieve an associative model. value generator, more cost effective, competitive and professionalized. The strengthening of the associative structures facilitates innovation and the incorporation of new technologies into the agricultural structures, increasing their productivity and efficiency and, in short, their ability to compete more effectively in the international markets.

In the light of these considerations, it is the object of this law to promote the fusion and integration of agricultural cooperatives and other associative forms in the agri-food sector, in the framework of the future CAP, including here also to the cooperative groups that associate several cooperative enterprises with the group head entity that exercises faculties or issues instructions to be enforced for the members of the group, in such a way that a unit of decision in the field of such powers. To this end, the creation of the figure of the priority agri-food associative entity is a key part.

The promotion policies introduced by the law are based on measures to prioritize aid and grants that are provided for in the Rural Development Programs for those actions that radiate in their field. territorial, in accordance with their respective regulatory standards and from compliance with European and competition law.

In this sense, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment and the Autonomous Communities will review the policies of associative promotion and the elaboration of a State Plan of Associative Integration. in order to coordinate these policies for the purposes set out in this Law, in order to remove the obstacles that cause weakness to the producer sector and to introduce legal and economic measures to promote integration.

The formation of cooperative groups and other associations of associative entities will also be promoted in order to achieve the condition of the agricultural and food priority associative entity, having the effect of a regulation appropriate corporate and fiscal.

The constitution and recognition of priority associative entities, which is encouraged by this law, may in some cases lead to the disappearance of the original entities that become part of a new entity. or, in other cases, the disappearance by absorption, the recognition of an existing entity, or the creation as a new entity by maintaining the original base entities, which constitute a higher-grade entity that assumes, at least, the tasks related to the common marketing of the production of all the partners of these original entities.

The law is structured into five chapters with six articles, one additional provision, one transitional provision, and five endings.

Chapter I sets out the general provisions: purpose and scope of application and purpose.

Chapter II sets out the conditions to be met by the priority associative entities for their recognition.

Chapter III refers to the aid and benefits provided for in the different situations of preference both of the resulting associative entities and those that are integrated and their producers.

Chapter IV creates, under the Food and Environment Ministry's Food Industry Directorate-General, the National Register of Priority Associative Entities.

In Chapter V, the system of financing of aid is regulated, as well as the collaboration of the autonomous communities.

The transitional provision regulates a transitional period for the purposes of complying with Article 3 (c) of the law for associative entities which do not comply with the provisions of the law at the time of the application for recognition and registration in the Register of Priority Associative Entities.

The final provisions regulate the title of competition, modify Law 27/1999, of July 16, of Cooperatives, and Law 20/1990, of 19 December, on Tax Regime of Cooperatives, point out the non-increase of public expenditure and regulatory development.

IV

Thus, in order to contribute to facilitating in a particular way the development of the cooperative sector in Spain, which currently presents an important economic potential and with more than a hundred thousand direct jobs, an important one is required extension of its aims and activities, which involves a review of its basic regulation, both of a substantive and a fiscal nature. These measures will allow for a better development of their job creation opportunities, for which legal regulations must offer them the possibility of taking over actions and services that have an impact on the benefit of rural and rural areas. its population, while allowing them to expand their business development in order to achieve a greater dimension. To this end, the amendments introduced in Law 27/1999 of 16 July of Cooperatives and in Law 20/1990 of 19 December on the Tax Regime of Cooperatives are responding.

Therefore, the amendments proposed in the current legal regulations on cooperatives are aimed at eliminating certain limits or obstacles that, nowadays, make it difficult to further expand their activities. In short, it is intended to make it possible to maintain one of the maxims of the agricultural cooperativism: its location in the rural territory without any foresight to relocate it.

These approaches are those that have inspired the modifications to the aforementioned laws, which are described below.

Article 6 of Law 27/1999, of 16 July, is to be reformed with the aim of improving the definition of the classes of agricultural cooperatives in their current denomination to adapt them to their economic and social reality, which in hereinafter referred to as 'agri-food', as well as for the second grade. The new name of the agro-food cooperative attributed to the agricultural cooperatives was claimed by the entire sector and is relevant for its greater approximation to the socioeconomic reality. This amendment extends to all cases in which the name of the agricultural cooperative appears in the article of Law 27/1999, of July 16, and will allow the cooperatives to adapt their constitutive norms to the activities that In fact they are developing today. The flexibility introduced will provide a greater facility for cooperatives to develop their chances of job creation.

In order to contribute to the consolidation of the associations of cooperatives, the incorporation in Article 56 of Law 27/1999 of 16 July concerning the Fund for Education and Promotion (EFF) of a new paragraph is proposed. in point 2, by which it is expressly possible for cooperatives to contribute their EFF allocations to their Unions or Federations for the fulfilment of the tasks entrusted to them by the legislation in so far as they are matching the funds ' own funds. Through this change, an option is enabled for cooperatives as regards the destination and management of the aforementioned Education and Promotion Fund, following the line already established in the laws of cooperatives of the Autonomous Communities of Andalusia and Valencia.

The proposed amendments, in conjunction with Article 93 of Law 27/1999 of 16 July, expressly incorporate in the subjective field of the agri-food cooperative, the persons holding the farms which follow the system of shared ownership, as regulated in the recent Law 35/2011 of 4 October on the shared ownership of agricultural holdings.

The scope of the agri-food cooperative is also affected, so that, in addition to having an impact on the specific agricultural activity, it also acts in reason of its implementation in the rural environment, while at the same time points out that the activities of the cooperative affect both the products of the cooperative and its partners.

In addition, the performance of agro-food cooperatives in the territorial and social environment of their location is highlighted, diversifying their activity to the benefit of their inhabitants, both partners and non-partners.

With regard to Article 9 of Law 20/1990 of 19 December on the Tax Regime of Cooperatives, the changes that are made in relation to its subjective scope eliminate the reference to natural persons, by obsolescence in the current context. This limitation creates not a few problems for the generation of farms in cooperative management and represents a major obstacle to the generation of competitive agricultural cooperative groups, without any added value. in terms of public purposes to incentivise, cooperative principles or mutualism.

CHAPTER I

General provisions

Article 1. Object and scope of application.

1. The purpose of this law is to encourage the merger or integration of agri-food cooperatives and other entities of an associative nature through the formation or extension of agri-food associations of sufficient size. economic activity, whose implementation and scope of economic activity are of a supra-regional nature, making, where appropriate, the necessary measures to obtain an adequate size to enable them to achieve the objectives described in Article 2.

2. This law applies to the agri-food associative entities identified as priorities in accordance with the provisions of Chapter II and the associative entities which make up them, as appropriate, as well as individual producers, whether they are natural or legal persons, who are part of them.

3. For the purposes of this law, cooperative societies, second-degree cooperatives, cooperative groups, agricultural processing companies, producer organisations with their own legal personality are associations of associations, recognized in accordance with Community legislation in the field of the Common Agricultural Policy and civil or commercial entities, provided that more than 50% of its share capital belongs to cooperative societies, to organizations of producers or agricultural processing companies. In the event that these economic entities are in the form of a public limited liability company, their shares must be nominative.

Article 2. Finnish.

1. This Law seeks to achieve the following purposes:

(a) To foster the grouping of the first links that make up the food chain, by merging or integrating the associative entities, in order to promote their redimensioning, to improve their competitiveness and contribute to the recovery of their production.

b) Improve the training of those responsible for the governance and management of these entities, in particular in the new tools and management tools.

c) Contribute to the improvement of the income of the agricultural producers integrated in the associative entities.

(d) to promote the integration of producers into priority associative entities, as well as in any of the associative entities referred to in Article 1.3, in order to improve their market position and their participation in the process of recovery and marketing of their products.

2. The measures to be taken to achieve the objectives referred to in this Article shall be exercised in accordance with Community law which is applicable, in particular to the rules on State aid, and to the rules and principles laid down in this Article. Law 15/2007 of 3 July of the Defence of Competition.

CHAPTER II

Priority associative entities

Article 3. Conditions for the recognition of priority associative entities.

1. In order for an associative entity to be considered a priority, the following requirements must be met:

a) To be an agro-food associative entity of the ones laid out in article 1.3 of this law.

b) Having implementation and an area of economic activity that are of a supra-regional character.

c) Carry out the joint marketing of the entire production of the associative entities and the producers that make up them.

d) That the billing of the requesting associative entity, or the sum of the billings of the entities merging or integrating scope, at least, the amount to be determined regulatively.

This economic amount will be determined according to the productive sectors, according to the National Classification of Economic Activities, and will be reviewed periodically, depending on the evolution of the sectoral integration process. and the value of marketed productions.

(e) expressly set out in the statutes or regulatory provisions corresponding to the various entities that make up the priority associative entity, as well as those of this entity, the obligation of the producers of deliver the entire production, for marketing in common.

(f) The statutes or regulatory provisions of the priority associative entity and of the entities that make up the entity must provide for the necessary forecasts to guarantee their associated producers the democratic control of their operation and its decisions, as well as to avoid the dominance of one or more of its members.

2. At the request of the entity concerned, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment shall recognize the priority associative entity, in accordance with the procedure laid down in regulation.

3. Agri-food associative entities recognised as priorities, the entities which integrate them and the producers forming part of them, which do not meet the conditions required to maintain their status, may not benefit from the aid and benefits provided for in the rules governing its concession. Regulations shall determine the manner and conditions in which the maintenance of the requirements and the consequences of their loss are to be credited.

CHAPTER III

Expected benefits and benefits

Article 4. Preference situations.

1. Associative entities recognised as priorities may be given preference, in accordance with the specific rules contained in the regulatory bases for each call, in the award of grants and investment aid. materials or materials intended to improve management and marketing procedures; access to training and cooperation activities; in the field of internationalisation, promotion and R & D + i; access to the ICO lines of preferential financing, which is specifically established; or other eligible funding, as well as in the actions referred to in the Rural Development Programmes, in favour of competitiveness, processing and marketing; and in any other that for the same purposes they shall be determined regulatively.

2. Associative entities integrated into associative entities recognised as priorities may be given preference, in accordance with the specific rules contained in the regulatory bases for each call, in the award of grants and aid. in the field of tangible or intangible investments aimed at improving management and processing procedures; access to training and technical assistance activities; in the procurement of policies which may be established for these Entities within the framework of the Combined Agricultural Insurance System; access to I + D + i programmes or actions and in new technologies; specifically focused on improving competitiveness, processing and marketing; or in any other that for these purposes are determined to be regulated.

3. Agricultural producers who are part of the priority associative entities or the associative entities which make up the group may take precedence, in accordance with the specific rules contained in the regulatory bases of each call, in the granting of subsidies and aid to improve their competitiveness and to direct their production to the market within the framework of the priority associative entity of which they are a party, in respect of the products for which it has been recognised; and in any other than for those same purposes as determined.

4. The above preference to be laid down in the specific rules contained in the regulatory bases for each call may not be of an absolute nature. In addition, it must be ensured in these bases that there will be no discrimination in access to aid and subsidies for entities and producers, irrespective of the organisation, entity or association through which they are based. are processed or managed.

CHAPTER IV

National Register of Priority Associative Entities

Article 5. Creation and operation.

1. It is created in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment, attached to the Directorate General of the Food Industry, a National Register of Priority Associative Entities, in which the entities of this nature will be registered recognised in accordance with the provisions of this Law and its Implementing Regulation.

2. The registration in the register will involve the incorporation of the data corresponding to the priority associative entity, as well as the data relating to the associative entities that integrate it and the relation of producers that are part of the the same, subject to the provisions of the Organic Law 15/1999, of 13 December, of Protection of Personal Data.

3. The above entries in the Register shall be made at the request of the priority associative entity and after the Ministry has verified compliance with the established requirements.

4. Those responsible for priority associative entities shall be obliged to inform the Ministry of any changes that may affect their priority status when they occur. In addition, they shall, on an annual basis, update the list of producers who are part of them.

5. The procedure and conditions for the registration and discharge of the entities, in the Register as well as the process to be developed for their control, maintenance and updating shall be regulated.

CHAPTER V

Financing the support and collaboration of the Autonomous Communities

Article 6. Financing of the aid.

1. The aid referred to in this Law may be financed by the General Administration of the State and by those of the Autonomous Communities.

2. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment will present in the Sectoral Conference that corresponds for the reason of the matter the State Plan of the Associative Integration, in which the actions and allocations foreseen by the Department to promote the application of this law, as well as the actions planned, in this same sense, by the autonomous communities. The plan will also include a balance of the achievements that have been achieved.

Single additional disposition. State Cooperative Integration Plan.

The Government will present the first State Plan for Associative Integration within six months of the entry into force of this Law.

Single transient arrangement. Transitional regime in Article 3.1 (c).

A transitional period will be established for the purposes of complying with the provisions of Article 3.1 (c) of this Law, for associative entities which do not comply with the provisions of this Law at the time of the application for recognition and registration in the National Register of Priority Associative Entities.

In the event that this period has elapsed, there will continue to be associative entities that do not deliver the full of their marketable production to the Priority Associative Entity, in which they are integrated, these entities and the members who compose them shall lose the benefits that they may be entitled to them in application of the provisions of Chapter III of this Law.

Likewise, the Priority Associative Entity will have to undergo a new recognition procedure, in order to determine what, counting exclusively with the entities that if they deliver the totality of their production, complies with the the conditions laid down in Article 3 of this Law. In the event that these conditions are not met, that Entity will lose the priority status.

Final disposition first. Competence title.

This law is dictated by the provisions of Article 149.1.13a of the Constitution, which confers exclusive competence on the State on the basis and coordination of the general planning of economic activity, except for the the third final provision, which is issued under Rule 14, which confers on the State exclusive jurisdiction over the General Finance and Debt of the State.

Final disposition second. Amendment of Law 27/1999, of 16 July, of Cooperatives.

Law 27/1999, of July 16, of Cooperatives is amended in the form shown below.

One. New wording is given to Article 6 and a new paragraph 2 is included:

" Article 6. Classes of cooperatives.

1. First-degree cooperative societies may be classified as follows:

-Associated work cooperatives.

-Consumer and user cooperatives.

-Housing cooperatives.

-agri-food cooperatives.

-Community operating cooperatives of the land.

-Service Cooperatives.

-Sea Cooperatives.

-Carrier Cooperatives.

-Insurance Cooperatives.

-Healthcare Cooperatives.

-Teaching cooperatives.

-Credit Cooperatives.

2. The Statutes of the second-degree cooperatives may qualify them according to the classification of the previous paragraph, provided that all the member cooperatives belong to the same class, adding in such case the expression " of second grade "."

Two. Article 56 (2) is amended as follows:

shall read as follows:

" 2. For the purposes of this fund, it will be possible to collaborate with other societies and entities, being able to contribute, in whole or in part, their endowment. In addition, such a contribution may be made in favour of the union or federation of cooperatives in which it is associated for the performance of the functions which are in line with the fund's own functions. "

Three. New wording is given to Article 93:

" Article 93. Object and scope.

1. It is agri-food cooperatives which associate holders of agricultural, livestock or forestry holdings, including the holders of these holdings under the shared ownership scheme, which are intended to carry out all types of activities and operations aimed at the best use of the holdings of their partners, their elements or components of the cooperative and the improvement of the agricultural population and the development of the rural world, as well as any other end or service which is itself of the agricultural, livestock, forestry or other activities directly related to them and with their implementation or action in the rural environment.

They may also be part of these cooperatives ' full partners, the agricultural processing societies, the regant communities, the water communities, the communities of property and the civil society, or (a) they have the same social object or supplementary activity and are included in the first paragraph of this Article. In such cases, the Statutes may regulate a limit of votes held by the members mentioned in relation to the cooperative's social vote set.

2. For the fulfilment of their purpose, agri-food cooperatives may develop, inter alia, the following activities:

(a) acquire, manufacture, produce and manufacture by any means, for the cooperative or for the holdings of its partners, animals, feed, fertilizers, plants, seeds, insecticides, materials, instruments, machinery, facilities and any other necessary or appropriate elements for agricultural, food and rural production and promotion.

b) To preserve, classify, manipulate, transform, transport, distribute and market, even directly to the consumer, products from the cooperative's holdings, their partners, as well as those acquired from third parties, in their natural or previously processed state.

c) To acquire, scale, clean and improve land for agriculture, livestock or forests, as well as the construction and exploitation of the necessary works and facilities for these purposes.

(d) Any other activities which are necessary or appropriate or which facilitate the economic, technical, employment or environmental improvement of the cooperative or the partners ' holdings, inter alia, the provision of services by the cooperative and with its own staff consisting in the carrying out of agricultural or other similar operations on those holdings and in favour of the members of the cooperative.

e) To carry out consumption and service activities for its partners and other members of its social and territorial environment, promoting activities aimed at promoting and improving the agricultural population and the rural environment, in (i) special attention to be paid to the activities of the cooperative, technical advice on production, trade and agri-food processing, and the use of forestry, services and forestry; conservation, recovery and use of heritage and natural resources; and energy in rural areas.

In any event, the volume of operations of the Cooperative for the activities listed in the preceding paragraph may not exceed twenty-five percent of the total volume of its operations.

3. The agricultural holdings of the partners, in order to improve the agricultural cooperative's services and supplies, must be within the territorial scope of the cooperative, established by law.

4. Agri-food cooperatives may carry out a volume of operations with non-member third parties which does not exceed 50% of the total of the cooperative. "

Final disposition third. Amendment of Law 20/1990 of 19 December of the Tax Regime of Cooperatives.

New wording is given to paragraph 1 and points (a) and (b) of Article 9 (2) in the form shown below:

" Article 9. Agri-food Cooperatives.

Agri-food cooperatives that meet the following requirements shall be considered as specially protected:

1. To associate holders of agricultural, forestry, livestock or mixed farms located within the geographical scope to which the activity of the Cooperative is governed by law.

2. That in the performance of their agricultural activities they respect the following limits:

(a) that the materials, products or services acquired, leased, manufactured, produced, manufactured or manufactured by any procedure by the cooperative, are intended exclusively for their own facilities or for the purposes of holdings of its partners.

However, they may be transferred to non-member third parties provided that their amount, during each financial year, does not exceed 50% of the total of the sales operations carried out by the cooperative.

Agri-food cooperatives may distribute petroleum products to non-member third parties with the limit set out in Article 13 (10) of this Law.

(b) Which are not kept, typified, manipulated, processed, transported, distributed or marketed products from other holdings, similar to those of the holdings of the Cooperative or its partners, in amounts in each financial year, more than 50% of the amount obtained by own products. '

Final disposition fourth. Increase in expenditure.

No increase in expenditure may result from the application of this law. The new human resources needs which may arise as a result of the regulatory obligations referred to in this law must be met by reordering or redistributing the personnel.

Final disposition fifth. Faculty of development.

The Government is enabled to dictate how many provisions are needed for the development and implementation of this law.

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this law.

Madrid, 2 August 2013.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The President of the Government,

MARIANO RAJOY BREY