7.    DEFINITIONS

7.1     The definition for cooperatives in Bangladesh, India and Malaysia is purely a legal definition. It states that: “Cooperative society means a society registered or deemed to be registered under any law relating to Cooperative Societies for the time being on force in any State”.

7.2     Under Fijian Cooperative Law a cooperative has been defined as “cooperative means an association of persons who have voluntarily joined together to achieve a common end thought the formation of a democratically controlled organization, making equitable contributions to the capital required and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in which the members actively participate, which is provisionally or fully registered under this Act as primary or secondary cooperative, apex organizations or the National Cooperatives registered according to the provisions of this act”.

7.3     Under The Indonesian Cooperative Law: "Cooperative (society) means an economic organization of the people with a social content (character) having persons or legal cooperative societies as members, farming economic entity as a collective endeavor based upon mutual help (Article 3). The law also define the functions of cooperatives under Article 4:

1. as a battle organ in the economic sector for the upheaval of the welfare standard of the people.
2. for the democratization of national economy;
3. as one for the dominant unit of the economy of the Indonesian people.
4. as an instrument for inspiring the masses in pursuance of a stable national economy and encouraging the unity of the people to organize the management of the economy of the people.

7.4     The Cooperative code of the Philippines under article 3 states the general concept of a cooperative as follows:
“A cooperative is a duly registered association of persons with a common bond of interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve a lawful common social or economic end, making equitable contributions to the capital required and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in accordance with universally accepted cooperative principles”.
In the Philippines the law also provides the objective of cooperatives: “The primary objective of every cooperative is to provide goods and services to its members and thus enable them to attain increased income and savings, investments, productivity, and purchasing powers and promote among them equitable distribution of net surplus through maximum utilization of economies of scale, cost-sharing and risk sharing without, however, conducting the affairs of the cooperatives for eleemosynary or charitable purposes”.

7.5     A Cooperative shall provide maximum economic benefits to its members, teach them efficient ways of doing things in a cooperatives manner, and propagate cooperative practices and new ideas in business and management and allow the lower income group to increase their ownership in the wealth of this nation.

7.6     The Thai Cooperative Law defines a cooperative society as: “a group of persons who jointly conduct affairs for mutual assistance and are registered under this act”.