About this Research -- Part 1: The European Cooperative Society (Sce) and Agricultural Cooperatives -- Introducing the SCE -- Defining Agricultural SCEs With Several Steps -- Part 2: Analysing Some Specific SCE Issues Comparing Relevant Italian and Austrian Legal Rules -- Issues Concerning the Governance of SCEs -- Issues About Financing SCEs -- Part 3: One Agricultural SCE or Many Agricultural SCEs? -- Conclusions/final Remarks.

This book assesses the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE) regarding agricultural activities by comparing how specific questions arising in this context must be dealt with under the Italian and Austrian legal systems. In this regard, Council Regulation (EC) No. 1435/2003, of 22 July 2003, on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE), is used as a tool for the structured analysis of various aspects of agricultural cooperatives. However, a comparison is only meaningful if the results are made comparable on the basis of a previously defined standard. Accordingly, the study uses, on one hand, a cooperative model developed by European legal scholars that defines general guidelines on how cooperatives should function (PECOL). On the other, the results are presented in connection with economic considerations to discuss how efficient rules can be developed.