Food, Agriculture, and Retail

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (February 2021)New York City Releases First 10-Year Food Plan Under New Law

The New York City Mayor’s Office of Food Policy is announcing the city’s first-ever 10-year food plan, called Food Forward NYC, to better address food insecurity, improve a number of food- and nutrition-related processes, and meet the requirements of law passed last year. The city will also “create financing and technical assistance plans to support worker-owned cooperatives,” by adjusting current programs to better suit the needs of food businesses and by working with community organizations and business improvement districts.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (JUNE 2020)IRS Issues Proposed Regulations For Excise Tax On Nonprofit Executive Compensation

On June 5, 2020, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the IRS) issuedproposed regulationson Section 4960 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Proposed Regulations"). The Proposed Regulations are "intended to provide comprehensive guidance" on Section 4960, enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which imposes an excise tax (currently 21%) upon an "applicable tax-exempt organization" (ATEO). In general, ATEOs include any organization exempt from tax under Section 501(a), any farmer's cooperative organization described in Section 521(b)(1), any organization that has income excluded under Section 115(1), and any political organization described in Section 527(e)(1).

AUSTRALIA [October 2020]Co-operatives – the slow food of social enterprise?

In Australia the go-to definition is located in the seminal 2010 Finding Australia’s Social Enterprise Sector(FASES) Study, which states that social enterprises: “are led by an economic, social, cultural, or environmental mission consistent with a public or community benefit; trade to fulfil their mission; derive a substantial portion of their income from trade; and, reinvest the majority of their profit/surplus in the fulfilment of their mission.”

Crucially, the official co-operative principles are enshrined in Australian legislation, including democratic economic participation and care for the community. Directors of co-operatives in Australia are actually required to take into account these socially-focused principleas a statutory duty. Co-ops have a legally enforceable social enterprise accreditation system (it is illegal to call your enterprise a co-op unless it is registered as such under Co-operative National Law). These principles demonstrate how well the co-operative model dovetails with the aspirations of the broader social enterprise movement. Not only that, co-operative principles require co-operatives to cooperate with each other; prefiguring the Declaration of Interdependence of the B-Corp movement

EUROPE [2020] Supply chain legislation in Europe

2013 Rana Plaza tragedywhich left more than 1,130 garment workers dead and another 2,500 injured in Dhaka, Bangladesh, marked a turning point in corporate social responsibility. In the aftermath of the disaster, big corporations faced mounting pressure to comply with labour safety programmes and pay greater attention to human rights in their supply chains. In Europe, two countries have already adopted binding supply chain legislation.

INDIA [2020]

Government notifies promotion of Farmer Producer Organisations [coop-like associations under the Companies Act 2013]

Ministry of Corporate Affairs implements Producer Companies’ chapter in Company Law

Producer company allows farmers’ co-ooperatives to function as a corporate entity under the Companies Act. Even businesses involved in marketing or promoting primary produce; financing producer activities or providing infrastructure to producers, whether in the form of electricity, water resources, irrigation techniques, consultation or land utilisation, can constitute a producer company. MCA has also specified the areas and instruments in which the general reserves of a ‘producer company’ can be invested.

BRITISH OVERSEAS TERRITORIES

TURKS AND CAICOS

[2021]

New Investment Policy and supportive legal framework unveiled

Plans have been unveiled to establish a food production cooperative, fund agricultural loans and protect local investments in farming, and ramp up agricultural science training.

INTERNATIONAL

2021

Global CSO statement against Child Labour in Cocoa

FRANCE

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  The National Assembly wants to repair the democracy of agricultural cooperatives [February 2022}