The social-economic and political changes that occurred in the 90s in the Republic of Moldova conditioned the diversification of cooperative forms of activity and creating an appropriate legal framework in the domain. Adoption of Law of Consumer Co-operatives and later of the Civil Code of the Republic of Moldova have determined the legal limits of developing the consumer cooperatives in the transition period. Touching upon the problem of existed socio-economic model of the consumer co-operative system and its subjects in relation to the challenges of modern economy there are outlined some nonconformities, legal contradictions and gaps which represent a barrier to the development of consumer co-operatives.