The natural persons executing the articles of incorporation shall be residents of the territory in which the principal operations of the cooperative are to be conducted who intend to use utility services to be furnished by the cooperative. The articles of incorporation shall be subscribed by at least five such persons and acknowledged by them before an officer authorized by the law of this Commonwealth to take and certify acknowledgments of deeds and conveyances. When so acknowledged the articles shall be filed in accordance with the provisions of Article 3 (§ 13.1-618 et seq.) of Chapter 9 or Article 3 (§ 13.1-818 et seq.) of Chapter 10 of Title 13.1. When so filed the articles of incorporation, or certified copies thereof, shall be received in all the courts of this Commonwealth and elsewhere as prima facie evidence of the facts contained therein, and of the due incorporation of such cooperative. All of the provisions of the Virginia Stock Corporation Act (§ 13.1-601 et seq.), and the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act (§ 13.1-801 et seq.), insofar as not inconsistent with this article are hereby made applicable to such stock and nonstock cooperatives, respectively; provided, however, that subsections D through G of § 13.1-620 and subdivision 1 of § 13.1-825 shall not apply to any affiliate or subsidiary of a cooperative. When the charter is filed in the office of the State Corporation Commission, the proposed cooperative described therein, under its designated name, shall be and constitute a body corporate, and, with respect to its providing regulated utility services, with all of the applicable powers provided for in § 56-49. A cooperative formed prior to July 1, 1999, need not have a registered office or registered agent. A stock or nonstock cooperative formed thereafter shall comply with § 13.1-634 or § 13.1-833, respectively.

1999, c. 874.