1. The legality of a merger shall be scrutinised, as regards the part of the procedure concerning each merging cooperative, in accordance with the law of the Member State to which the merging cooperative is subject that apply to mergers of cooperatives and, failing that, the provisions applicable to internal mergers of public limited companies under the law of that State.

2. In each Member State concerned the court, notary or other competent authority shall issue a certificate attesting to the completion of the pre-merger acts and formalities.

3. If the law of a Member State to which a merging cooperative is subject provides for a procedure to scrutinise and amend the share-exchange ratio, or a procedure to compensate minority members, without preventing the registration of the merger, such procedures shall apply only if the other merging cooperatives situated in Member States which do not provide for such procedure explicitly accept, when approving the draft terms of the merger in accordance with Article 27(1), the possibility for the members of that merging cooperative to have recourse to such procedure. In such cases, the court, notary or other competent authorities may issue the certificate referred to in paragraph 2 even if such a procedure has been started. The certificate must, however, indicate that the procedure is pending. The decision in the procedure shall be binding on the acquiring cooperative and all its members.