Under the Federal Constitution, only the provinces (Bundeslaender) have the right to establish

interest groups representing the farming community. There are agriculture chambers in all
nine provinces in Austria, established by provincial law. The umbrella organisation for these
nine chambers is an association, the Presidential Conference of the Austrian Chambers of
Agriculture.
The Presidential Conference has its head office in Vienna, but carries out its activities in the
whole of Austria. Its members are the nine agriculture chambers and the Austrian
Raiffeisenverband. Its main tasks include providing assistance to its members and
representing their interests vis--vis the State and other occupational groups.
Like other occupational groups Austrian farm families also have a legally established
representation of interest in all Federal Provinces, the Chambers of Agriculture. The federal
Chambers of Agriculture are linked by an umbrella organisation, the Austrian Chamber of
Agriculture, which acts as a coordination body.
Whereas advice to farmers, tasks delegated by regional or national administrations and the
representation of interest are of about equal standing in the Chambers of Agriculture, the
Austrian Chamber of Agriculture focuses clearly on farm advice and tasks delegated by the
national and regional governments, as well as the representation of interest, in particular vis-vis all Austrian institutions and at European level.
All self-employed persons active in agriculture and/or forestry as well as the members of
their families working with them are by law members of the Chambers of Agriculture. They
have the right to make use of the services of the Chambers of Agriculture without paying for
them and to elect its representatives, and the duty to ensure the financing of the expenses of
their Chambers by levy contributions. Candidate groups are predominantly political parties or
their sub-organisations.
The Austrian Chamber of Agriculture represents its members in various economic
institutions, e.g. in the market organisation agency Agrar Markt Austria, but also in many
commissions, advisory committees and scientific institutions. Since Austrias accession to
the European Union the Chamber of Agriculture is also a member of COPA, the Committee
of Professional Agricultural Organisations in Europe. In this way it is also in a position to
represent the interests of Austrias agriculture and forestry throughout Europe.
A particularity of Austrian economic policy is the voluntary cooperation of the four major
representations of interest (Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, Austrian Economic Chamber,
Federal Chamber of Labour, Austrian Federation of Trade Unions), which exists since 1957.
Important economic decisions are taken and bases for decision-making for public bodies are
worked out in this typically Austrian institution called Sozialpartnerschaft (social
partnership).
The system of public-law bodies which represent the interests of agriculture. The Austrian
Constitution delegates the regulation of this representation to Land level, and the Chambers of
Agriculture, one of which was established for each of Austria's nine Lnder, are therefore
governed by the particular laws of the Land in question. This results in certain differences in
their organization, the most important of which concerns their membership domain. Whereas
they all share the common feature that membership is obligatory for landowners and selfemployed persons working in agriculture and forestry (including assisting family members)
and for co-operatives in this sector, there are differences as regards employees: in the Tirol
and Vorarlberg, all employees in agriculture and forestry are also members of the Chamber. In
these two Lnder, therefore, there is the unique configuration of an organization which unites
employers and employees and is formally responsible for representing the interests of both,
although within the Chambers concerned the representation of the two sides is largely
autonomous. In the other seven Lnder, agricultural employees have their own Chamber. The
peak organization in the agriculture and forestry sector is the PKLWK (Standing Committee

of Presidents of the Chambers of Agriculture), the voluntary association uniting the nine
Chambers of Agriculture (see Chambers), and the Austrian Association of Agricultural Cooperatives (sterreichischer Raiffeisenverband), a voluntary association representing the
interests of agriculture and forestry co-operatives. The PKLWK represents agriculture and
forestry in Austria's system of social partnership and therefore belongs to the exclusive circle
of social partners (or their organizations). Austria's entry into the EU has brought about a
decline in the PKLWK's importance in the social partnership system, since the shift of powers
and responsibilities on agricultural policy to Brussels has also separated the sector's problems
from the other areas of economic and social policy. In general, the tasks of the Chambers of
Agriculture include the representation of agriculture and forestry interests, the provision of
advisory services for their members and collaboration in sectoral regulatory measures (e.g. the
implementation of public promotional programmes for agriculture and forestry).
The main purpose of this association is to form a "centralized organization of the Austrian
chambers of agriculture."
The association's purpose is to improve the overall situation of the agriculture and forestry
sectors, and represent their joint interests.
According to law, members of the regional agricultural chambers are:

Owners of property used for agriculture and/or forestry

Dependent on agriculture or forestry for their livelihood
Family members involved in agriculture or forestry on a full-time basis
Agricultural or forestry businesses or cooperatives
Executive staff of the aforementioned enterprises

Members are represented at the regional level in local farmers' committees and district
farmers' chambers (Bezirksbauernkammern), as well as in committees, working groups,
advisory boards and professional organizations of the respective regional chamber of
agriculture. They have the right to use various services of the chambers free of charge,
particularly in terms of consultation.
Representation of Members' Interests The chamber is obliged to represent their interests.
All chamber members have the right to vote in free, secret-ballot elections in their chamber.
Five-year terms are typical for the regionally-elected plenary assembly and for most federal
regions elected at the district level.
The Plenary Assembly
The highest body of each agriculture chamber is the plenary assembly. Depending on the
region, each consists of between 19 and 36 members chosen in accordance with a electoral list
system. The groups standing for election include primarily political parties or their suborganizations.
The plenary assembly in turn, elects the President, the vice-president as well as specialized
committees, and determines the size of chamber contributions. Also, the agricultural
cooperatives are represented in the plenary assembly.
Services Available to Members
Chambers are managed by the executive and have specialized departments which assist in
decision-making, interest articulation, consultation and subsidization alongside other services
for members.
COPACOGECA ?

COGECA (European Agricooperatives)

General Committee for Agricultural Cooperation in the European Union
Member: sterreichischer Raiffeisenverband - RV - (Austrian Raiffeisen Association )
COPA (European Farmers)
Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations in Europe
Member: Landwirtschaftskammer sterreich - LK (Austrian Chamber of Agriculture
- EU and international affairs )

COPA: European agricultural

union
The Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community signed on 25 March 1957
already contained the most important framework provisions of the Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP).
The relationship between the Community authorities and the representatives of the agricultural
sector was left open by the Treaty, but the Commission expressed its desire for close cooperation at
an early stage and invited representatives of agricultural organisations to attend the 1958 Stresa
Conference as observers.
Farmers themselves were convinced of the importance of the Community for their sector, and on 6
September 1958, the first European representative organisation, COPA, was created.
One year later, on 24 September 1959, the agricultural cooperatives of the European Community
created their European umbrella organisation, COGECA (General Confederation of Agricultural
Cooperatives).
COPAs Secretariat was established in Brussels on 1 April 1959, merging with that of COGECA on 1
December 1962.

COGECA
The dynamic force of European farmers and their cooperatives
When the Treaty of Rome was signed on 25 March 1957, it already contained the most important
framework provisions establishing the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
In recognition of the importance of the agricultural sector, the EU Commission expressed its desire
for close cooperation with its representatives at an early stage and invited national agricultural
organisations to attend the 1958 Stresa Conference as observers.
In response, the first European organisation representing farmers, COPA (Committee of Professional
Agricultural Organisations), was created on 6 September 1958.
Shortly after, on 24 September 1959, the national agricultural cooperative organisations created
their European umbrella organisation COGECA (General Committee for Agricultural Cooperation in
the European Union) which also includes fisheries cooperatives.
COGECA s Secretariat merged with that of COPA on 1 December 1962.
When COGECA was created it was made up of 6 members. Since then, it has been enlarged by
almost six and now has 35 full members and 4 affiliated members from the EU. COGECA
also has 36 partner members.
In line with the recent European Union enlargements, COPA and COGECA have together further
reinforced their position as Europes strongest farming representative organisations. COPA and
COGECA have jointly welcomed 38 national farmer and cooperative organisations from the new
Member States.
Overall membership of both organisations has thus risen to 76 organisations from the EU Member
States.

COGECA, now called the General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives in the European
Union, currently represents the general and specific interests of some 40,000 farmers
cooperatives employing some 660,000 people and with a global annual turnover in excess of three
hundred billion euros throughout the enlarged Europe. Since its creation, COGECA has been
recognised by the European Institutions as the main representative body and indeed the
spokesman for the entire agricultural and fisheries cooperative sector.
Fishing cooperatives are active in numerous areas, such as victualling, vessel management and
insurance, the fish trade, as well as the marketing and processing of fish.
Maritime cooperation in Europe also includes cooperative ship-owners, whose main objective is still
to help bring young people into the profession.