Co-operative enterprise law is only rarely part of teaching curricula, even if about one billion members around the world are involved in this special form of enterprise with an economic and social impact to match. The repeated crisis resilience of co-operatives and the growing awareness that sustainable development issues must also be addressed by and through enterprises bring this shortcoming to light. The issue is tackled by international governmental instruments and by the International Cooperative Alliance Blueprint for the Cooperative Decade 2011%E2%80"2020.This course is to create an understanding of the factors which shape co-operative law. The term %E2%80%9Cco-operative law%E2%80%9D also incorporates other fields of law as they impact on the structure and operations of co-operatives, such as labour law, tax law, competition law and accounting and bookkeeping standards, as well as law making and implementation procedures. As students come from different national backgrounds, reference to specific co-operative laws will only be made by way of example.

Course leader
Mr. Hagen Henr and Mr. Pekka Hytinkoski

Target group
Advanced Bachelor's and Master's students, including professionals already working, interested in co-operative law.

Course aim
At the end of the course the students will be able to distinguish the co-operative form of enterprise from other forms, especially from the stock company, in terms of its legal structure. This includes co-operative management and governance, the nature and structure of its capital and its control mechanisms.The students will learn about developments that shape co-operative laws, not least as co-operatives take new forms under globalisation. These complex developments include a general trend to harmonise law; the emergence of international regulations which directly impact on enterprises; regional co-operative legislation and regional model laws.

Fee info
EUR 640: This fee applies to degree and PhD students who pay the fee before June 1.

Helsinki Summer School
Address: P.O. Box 3 University of Helsinki
Postal code: FI-00014
City: Helsinki
Country: Finland
Website: http://helsinkisummerschool.fi
E-mail: summer-school@helsinki.fi
Phone: +358 (0)2 941 40255