Competence of the general meeting

(1) The general meeting determines the annual financial statements. It resolves on the appropriation of the net income for the year or the covering of a net loss for the year, and on the discharge of the management board and the supervisory board. The general meeting must be held within the first six months of the business year.
(2) In the determination of the annual financial statements, the provisions applicable to their preparation apply. Where the annual financial statements are altered on their determination and the examination under section 53 has already been completed, resolutions on the determination of the annual financial statements and on the appropriation of the results taken before the fresh examination become effective only once an unqualified auditor's certificate has been issued, with respect to the alteration, on the basis of a fresh examination.
(3) The annual financial statements, the management report, and the report of the supervisory board should be laid out for inspection by the members, at least one week before the meeting, in the business premises of the cooperative or at another suitable place to be published by the management board, made accessible on the cooperative's website, or otherwise brought to their knowledge. Every member is entitled, at his or her own cost, to demand a copy of the annual financial statements, the management report and the report of the supervisory board.
(4) The general meeting resolves on the disclosure of separate financial statements under section 339(2) in conjunction with section 325(2a) of the Commercial Code. The resolution may be adopted in advance for the following business year. The statutes may transfer the decisions named in the first and second sentences to the supervisory board. Financial statements prepared by the management board on the basis of a resolution under the first to third sentences may be disclosed only after their approval by the supervisory board.