Duties and rights of the representatives.

As the “EK Parliament”, the representative assembly is the highest decision-making body within our cooperative. In general, the representative assembly meets twice a year in Bielefeld, and holds two additional meetings digitally.

All of EK’s key strategic decisions are discussed and jointly decided on in the representative assembly. This means that representatives are actively involved in shaping the EK cooperative.

The representatives are multipliers, ambassadors, and decision-makers in one. They serve as the interface between EK headquarters and local retailers,

and act as sparring partners for the Supervisory and Executive Boards. They represent the interests of their retailer colleagues, and serve as contact persons. In this way, representatives foster discussion within the cooperative, and bring the EK culture of cooperation between companies to life.

They help convey and explain decisions made in the representative assembly to their retailer colleagues.

The concrete duties and rights of the representatives include, for instance

• Approval of the annual financial statement
• Deciding on the appropriation of earnings
• Electing the Supervisory Board
• Discharging the Board of Managers
• Amending the Articles of Association

All representatives have a right to participate, speak, make motions, make suggestions, request information, and vote, and they are not bound to observe instructions.