Mauritius - Register a Co-operative Society

Advertisement

Procedure

Apply In Person

1. To register a Co-operative Society, the applicant should make the application to the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives (Cooperatives Division). Please view the Ministry’s contact details through this Contact details.
2. The applicant should obtain the application form for registration of a co-operative society at the front desk of the Cooperatives Division at the ministry’s office or download the form directly through this Application form.
3. Read and complete the application form correctly and attach all the required supporting documents as instructed in the application form or as mentioned in the “Required Documents” section below.
4. Then the applicant should visit the Ministry’s office and pay the application fee at the cashier’s office and obtain the payment receipt.
5. Upon making the payment, the applicant should submit the complete application dossier to the official at the Cooperatives Division service desk.
6. The official will verify the application and check if the form is completed correctly and if all the required supporting documents are attached.
7. If the application is completed accordingly and all the documents are in order, the official will issue the applicant the acknowledgment receipt of the application. Note that incomplete applications will not be processed.
8. Upon completion of the verification process, the application will be forwarded to the Registrar of Co-operative Societies.
9. The Registrar will evaluate the application and decide to approve or dismiss the application depending on the merits of the application.
10. After the Registrar makes the decision, the applicant will be informed in writing within 14 days.
11. If the Registrar dismisses the application, the registrar will state in clear terms the reason for making that decision.
12. where the application is approved, the applicant will be required to pay the annual registration fee at the Ministry’s office.
13. Upon payment of the annual registration fee, the applicant will be issued a letter to open a bank account at MauBank Ltd and a letter to purchase the prescribed books at the Mauritius Co-operative Alliance (MCA) Ltd.
14. The applicant will also be issued the registration certificate of the co-operative society.

Apply Online

1. To apply for the registration of a co-operative society, the applicant should make the application through the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives (Cooperatives Division) online portal via this Online Portal.
2. On the web page, click on the “Register a new Cooperative” button to go to the registration page.
3. On this page, the applicant should enter the required information under “Create new account” and click on the “Create new account” button.
4. Then an email will be sent to the applicant's email account with a log-in link.
5. The applicant should open the email and click on the link to the login page and then click on the “login” button to go to the next page.
6. The applicant should enter and confirm his/her preferred password, check if the information on the page is correct, and then click on the “Save” button to be directed to the applicant’s account.
7. In the account, click on the “ + Register as a cooperative society” button to go to the online registration form and complete the required details and click on the “Save” button to go to the next page.
8. On the new page, the applicant should add at least five members of the cooperative society by click on the “Step 1: Add members” button. Add the members and click on the “Save” button.
9. Upon adding the members, the applicant should click on the “Add Documents” button and upload the draft rules and other relevant documents as per the class of society.
10. Then the applicant should click on the “Make Payment” button to pay the application. Note that the applicant may choose to pay at the MIDSC (Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives) cashier office or pay through SBM Ltd.
11. Then the applicant should click on the “submit” button to send the application for processing.
12. On applying, the applicant will receive an online acknowledgment receipt of the application.
13. Then that applicant should proceed to make the application fee payment, and then the application will be processed at the Ministry’s office.
14. The Registrar will evaluate the application and decide to approve or dismiss the application depending on the merits of the application.
15. After the Registrar making the decision, the applicant will be informed in writing within 14 days of the Registrar making the decision.
16. If the Registrar dismisses the application, the registrar will state in clear terms the reason for making that decision.
17. where the application is approved, the applicant will be required to pay the annual registration fee at the Ministry’s office.
18. Upon payment of the annual registration fee, the applicant will be issued a letter to open a bank account at MauBank Ltd and a letter to purchase the prescribed books at the Mauritius Co-operative Alliance (MCA) Ltd.
19. The applicant will also be issued the registration certificate of the co-operative society

Advertisement

Required Documents

• Complete application form.
• 3 copies of the draft Rules of the proposed society.
• Statement of paid-up shares (Minimum Rs 5000).
• Proof of payment of application fee of Rs 1000 (payable on application).
• National identification card (NIC) of the promoter.
• a project write-up on the activities of the proposed society.
• Any other document requested by the registrar.

Office Locations & Contacts

Ministry of Industrial Development,
SMEs and CooperativesCooperatives Division
The Permanent Secretary
Address: 3rd Floor,
LIC CentrePresident John Kennedy Street
Port Louis
Tel: (230) 405 0770
Fax: (230) 208 9263
Email: [email protected]
Contact details

Eligibility

The eligibility criteria for registration is as follows:

• Primary society should consist of at least 5 individuals, or a society and a body corporate other than society.
• Secondary society consists of at least 2 primary societies. (Only primary societies may be members of a secondary society).
• Tertiary society should consist of at least 2 secondary societies. (Only secondary societies may be members of a tertiary society).

Fees

• The application fee is 1000 MUR and the annual registration fee is 500 MUR.

Validity

• The registration is valid for one year and is eligible for renewal.

Documents to Use

• Application form.

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• The application is processed within 15 working days.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external 
websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Where the applicant does not receive a reply about his/her application within 14 days, he/she may apply to the Permanent Secretary for an order directing the Registrar to make a reply.
• Any persons aggrieved by the decision of the Registrar to refuse his application may, within 21 days of receipt of the decision, appeal to the permanent secretary.

Required Information

• Name of Proposed society.
• Address of proposed society.
• Type of proposed society (primary/secondary/tertiary).
• Geographical area of operation (Village, Town, District, Organisation).
• Objects of the proposed society.
• Capital to be raised by the issue of shares.
• Eligibility for membership in the society.
• Name/telephone and address of interim President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
• Declaration by the applicant.

Need for the Document

• No co-operative society should operate in Mauritius unless it is registered and has a valid registration certificate issued by the Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs, and Cooperatives.

Information which might help

• THE CO-OPERATIVES ACT 2016

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses for obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

• Ministry of Industrial Development, SMEs and Cooperatives

Others

More information which might help people.