01 / 05The challenge
The law should understand cooperatives.
Nearly three million cooperatives.
One global legal challenge.
Cooperatives begin with people, not outside investors. Their purpose, and their relationship with members, are fundamentally different.
Yet the law still reads them through concepts designed for investor-owned companies. Their democratic character is misunderstood, and their identity lost in translation.
The International Cooperative Alliance is custodian of the Statement on the Cooperative Identity. amicus.coop helps translate its values and principles into clear rights, obligations, institutions and coherent legal norms.
Because cooperative identity must have legal meaning.
Access
amicus.coop as
A small point of judgment.
A global point of connection.
02 / 05The identity
A friend. An ally.
A trusted counsel.
amicus is Latin for friend. It evokes the amicus curiae: independent legal knowledge placed at the service of justice.
The prism in the a stands for clarity: complex law, policy and data turned into useful intelligence.
The plum dot in .coop anchors amicus in its environment: the global cooperative community.
The u is the Pythagorean Cup of Justice
- 01
Balance
Below its threshold, the cup holds what is needed. Balance and moderation: a fair share, and no more.
- 02
Threshold
One final drop crosses the point of balance.
- 03
Consequence
A concealed siphon empties the cup completely. The consequence of excess.
- 04
Common good
Shared needs return to the centre. The drop returns to form .coop.
Shared needs at the centre. Capital at the service of people. Greed gives way to cooperation.
a / prism = clarity u / cup = balance · plum dot = judgment + connection .coop
03 / 05The platform
Movement-generated. Authentic. Global.
One living legal map of the cooperative world.
amicus.coop is the movement-generated, authentic global database of laws and public policies concerning cooperatives, across countries, languages and legal traditions.
- Cooperative laws and regulations
- Public policies and government programmes
- Judgments and emerging jurisprudence
- Taxation, competition and governance rules
- International and regional instruments
- Research and commentary
It also tracks new legislation, judgments, policy and cooperative news worldwide. Not just what changed, but why it matters and what cooperatives, governments and lawmakers can do next.
From scattered information to knowledge the movement can trust and use.
The legal map is powered by Coop Atlas.
04 / 05The community
Community of Inquiry
Search. Ask. Answer. Build.
A trusted, closed network for cooperative law and public policy. Ask questions and receive informed answers. Exchange opinions and publish posts.
Connect lawyers, cooperators, researchers and policymakers. Find collaborators, jobs, funding and opportunities. Let experience in one jurisdiction illuminate reform in another.
Acumen
Through Acumen, this collective intelligence meets expert human advice for cooperatives, governments and institutions. Technology can organise knowledge; cooperative law also needs judgment, context and human understanding.
Human expertise, powered by collective intelligence.
Community of Inquiry and other services launching February 2027.
05 / 05The invitation
For the movement.
Shaped by it.
Launched on the heels of the movement's conversations on peace and building bridges, this is an invitation to a first community of friends and potential co-owners: test it, question it, challenge it, improve it and help it grow.
The ambition is for amicus to become a cooperative institution in its own right, shaped and ultimately governed by cooperators, cooperatives, federations and experts in law and policy.
Only together can we build an international jurisprudence of cooperation: one in which cooperative identity is properly understood, rooted in the diversity of the millions of communities that make our world.
The cooperative movement has built enterprises across the world. amicus.coop is the beginning of the legal infrastructure they deserve.
Access
amicus.coop as
Built by the cooperative movement.
For the cooperative movement.
For a legal order that understands cooperation.