Duties of the supervisory board

(1) The supervisory board must supervise the management board in its conduct of business. For this purpose it may at any time demand information from the management board on all matters of the cooperative, and inspect and examine the books and papers of the cooperative and the holdings of the cooperative's cash office and the holdings of securities and goods. It may commission individual of its members to carry out the inspection and examination. An individual member of the supervisory board may also demand information, but only towards the supervisory board. The supervisory board must examine the annual financial statements, the management report, and the proposal for the appropriation of the net income for the year or the covering of the net loss for the year; it must report to the general meeting on the outcome of the examination before the determination of the annual financial statements.
(1a) The supervisory board may appoint an audit committee that concerns itself with the supervision of the accounting process, the effectiveness of the internal control system, the risk management system and the internal audit system, and of the statutory audit. The audit committee may make recommendations or proposals to ensure the integrity of the accounting process. Where the supervisory board of a cooperative that is an undertaking of public interest within the meaning of section 316a, second sentence, no. 1 or 2 of the Commercial Code establishes an audit committee, this must satisfy the conditions of section 36(4). Article 6(2)(a) of Regulation (EU) No. 537/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities and repealing Commission Decision 2005/909/EC (OJ L 158, 27.5.2014, p. 77, L 170, 11.6.2014, p. 66) applies with the proviso that the declaration is to be given by reference to the legal representatives of the association and the persons employed by the association who may influence the outcome of the audit.
(1b) The supervisory board must also examine the separate non-financial report (section 289b of the Commercial Code), where one has been prepared.
(2) The supervisory board must convene a general meeting where this is required in the interest of the cooperative. Where no supervisory board is to be formed under the statutes, section 44 applies.
(3) Further duties of the supervisory board are determined by the statutes.
(4) The members of the supervisory board may not have their duties performed by other persons.