On July 21, the law on the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) was passed, initiated by Benoît Hamon, then Minister Delegate for the Social Solidarity Economy, and continued by Carole Delga, current Secretary of State for Trade, Crafts, Consumer Affairs and the Social Solidarity Economy.
Fully involved in the various stages of the bill's adoption, the FCA welcomes this historic step forward, representing a major evolution for retailer cooperatives. The law reaffirms cooperative principles, while modernizing the legislative framework for cooperatives to bring it into line with business realities: at last, a real effort by institutional players and the various cooperative families to give SSE companies visibility and legal stability.
In particular, the FCA contributed to two key provisions: the framework for financial solidarity mechanisms and the extension of the purpose of merchant cooperatives to online activities.
The law now provides a legislative framework for the financial mechanisms created by the Associated Commerce groups, in particular to support transfers.
These financing subsidiaries, now recognized by law and owned directly or indirectly by all network members, are designed to support the purchase, creation and development of sales outlets. This new legislative framework now encourages their use, while ensuring that control of the company is retained by Commerce Associé retailers.
The FCA also welcomes the inclusion in the law of online sales activities by retailers' cooperatives. E-commerce is now recognized in the law as part of the non-exhaustive list of activities that retailers' cooperatives can carry out, directly or indirectly, on behalf of their members.
The cooperative is now in a position to develop and manage an online sales platform, enabling it to sell goods and services directly to Internet consumers, for the benefit of its associates.
Source : http://www.commerce-associe.fr/article/adoption-loi-ess-une-evolution-historique-pour-les-cooperatives-de-commercants
