A cooperative must file a notification for registration within six months of the signing of the Charter of Foundation. In other cases the foundation will become void. A cooperative is established when it is entered in the trade register.

Cooperatives use the start-up notification form Y1. They must also complete the attachment form 2 for the trade register. The start-up notification form and the attachment form are delivered in the original. The following documents are to be attached:

• Instrument of incorporation as original • rules of the cooperative • the minutes of the Board of Directors' meeting (as original or as a certified copy) showing • the rights to writer the business name (if stipulated in the rules) and • the election of a Managing Director, if any.

In case of a licenced trade, a copy of the trade licence is attached to the trade register notification. If a licence has not yet been granted, the applicant may file the basic notification with the trade register and deliver a copy of the licence to the trade register once it has been granted.

In a cooperative the members of the Board of Directors are responsible for filing the start-up notification. The notification must be signed by a person responsible for the notification or someone authorised by such person. If the notification is signed by a person authorised to do so, the original power of attorney must be attached to the notification. See Start-up notification of a cooperative Y1, p. 2.

A consent for the task shall be obtained in writing from the members and deputy members of the Board of Directors, the Managing Director and the deputy Managing Director, and the members and deputy members of the Supervisory Board of a cooperative. The consent may be given by signing the item 'Suostun tehtävään' ('I accept the task') on the attachment form or by using a separate attachment. See Attachment form 2 to the start-up notification of a cooperative Y1, p. 1–3.

Using the attachment form 2 to the start-up notification Y1, all the members of the co-operative's Board of Directors and the Managing Director represent and warrant that the provisions of the Co-operatives Act have been observed when founding the co-operative. See Attachment form 2 to the start-up notification of a cooperative, p. 4.

Start-up notifications (in Finnish and in Swedish) are available on the Business Information System (BIS) website.