56-231.19 - Filing articles of incorporation; effect thereof; other provisions of law applicable.

§ 56-231.19. Filing articles of incorporation; effect thereof; otherprovisions of law applicable.

The natural persons executing the articles of incorporation shall beresidents of the territory in which the principal operations of thecooperative are to be conducted who intend to use utility services to befurnished by the cooperative. The articles of incorporation shall besubscribed by at least five such persons and acknowledged by them before anofficer authorized by the law of this Commonwealth to take and certifyacknowledgments of deeds and conveyances. When so acknowledged the articlesshall be filed in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 (§ 13.1-618 etseq.) of Chapter 9 or Article 3 (§ 13.1-818 et seq.) of Chapter 10 of Title13.1. When so filed the articles of incorporation, or certified copiesthereof, shall be received in all the courts of this Commonwealth andelsewhere as prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein, and of thedue incorporation of such cooperative. All of the provisions of the VirginiaStock Corporation Act (§ 13.1-601 et seq.), and the Virginia NonstockCorporation Act (§ 13.1-801 et seq.), insofar as not inconsistent with thisarticle are hereby made applicable to such stock and nonstock cooperatives,respectively; provided, however, that subsections D through G of § 13.1-620and subdivision 1 of § 13.1-825 shall not apply to any affiliate orsubsidiary of a cooperative. When the charter is filed in the office of theState Corporation Commission, the proposed cooperative described therein,under its designated name, shall be and constitute a body corporate, and,with respect to its providing regulated utility services, with all of theapplicable powers provided for in § 56-49. A cooperative formed prior to July1, 1999, need not have a registered office or registered agent. A stock ornonstock cooperative formed thereafter shall comply with § 13.1-634 or §13.1-833, respectively.

(1999, c. 874.)