Information About Azerbaijan Society of Appraisers

On the initiative of legal and natural persons engaged in valuation activities, economic scientists in December 1998, the Azerbaijan Society of Appraisers (ASA) was established and registered in the Ministry of Justice in February 1999. Currently, many real estate appraisers of the republic and legal entities with great experience in the field of appraisal, economists, scientists, experts and scientific workers who are in charge of financial issues, known in the field of price formation and real estate market in our country as well as outside its borders, are members of the  Azerbaijan Society of Appraisers . As a public association, ASA closely cooperates with state bodies in the direction of solving a number of theoretical and practical problems of valuationactivities in order to provide quality service to the population in the field of valuation.

As stated in its charter, "the purpose of the creation of the society is to create a civil valuation market in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to assist the activities of specialists engaged in the valuation of various types of property, to protect their professional rights, to protect their professional interests and to help raise the level of their qualifications". In order to realize this goal, ASA participates in the preparation of projects and programs, national valuation standards in accordance with international and European standards, together with state bodies, other public associations, and international organizations, conducts trainings, conferences, seminars, briefings on improving the qualifications of appraisers , mediates numerous problems of valuation activities and publishes various bulletins, books and provides its members with necessary information, implements various measures to meet the demand for valuation activities in different regions of the country, studies and disseminates international valuation experience.

During its activity, the ASA published the "Bulletin of appraisers", compilations related to appraisal issues ("Appraisal", "Appraisal and accounting", "Appraisal and normative-legal documents"), "property appraisal" legislative acts, appraisers' careers in order to increase the qualification levels, basic training courses have been organized in the cities of Sumgait, Ganja, Guba and Lankaran, in May 2001, scientific-practical conferences on "Legislative protection of modern property market and appraisal activity", in December 2002 on "Development directions of intellectual entrepreneurship in the fields of economic activity" and in April 2003, "Main priorities of entrepreneurship development and appraisal activity" the II International Congress was held on the topic of "urgent issues of improvement", "Development concept of valuation activities in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2001-2017", "Program for training and qualification of professional appraisers  in the Republic of Azerbaijan" were presented to the relevant state institutions, relations were established with associations of appraisers  of foreign countries.

At the 2nd international scientific-practical conference on "Modern property market and legal protection of appraisal activities" held on May 23-24, 2001 at the initiative of the  Azerbaijan Society of Appraisers , the chairman and members of the Council of Appraisers Associations of the CIS, Belarus, Russia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, etc. representatives of the appraisers  associations of the states participated. The conference raised important issues such as the preparation of the development concept of valuation activities in Azerbaijan, improvement of the quality of conducted valuation works, preparation of the attestation system of appraisers s, preparation of proposals for the development of national valuation standards and the normative-methodical basis of valuation activities.

On December 26, 2002, at the scientific-practical conference on the topic of "directions of development of intellectual entrepreneurship in the fields of economic activity", separate stages of large-scale socio-economic programs that can ensure the perspective development of valuation, which is an independent intellectual entrepreneurial activity, were discussed. In April 2003, at the II International Congress on "The main priorities of entrepreneurship development and actual issues of improvement of appraisal activity" (the congress was organized by the joint initiative of the  Azerbaijan Society of Appraisers , the Council of CIS Appraisers' Unions and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Republic of Azerbaijan), the development of national entrepreneurship and the country's economy in the world integration into the economy, a number of actual issues of valuation activities, etc. has been discussed.

Taking into account the need to improve the quality of work in the field of professional appraisers  and national standards in the country based on scientific and practical knowledge, on November 11, 2003, a scientific conference of professors, teachers, masters and students of the Student Scientific Society of the Azerbaijan State University of Economics was held on the topic "real estate market and national valuation standards" with the participation of the leaders of the Council of CIS Appraisers Associations. The conference attracted great interest of young economists.

Training of appraisers, certification of their activities and real determination of tariff-qualification characteristics are important issues at the current stage of valuation activities. In this regard, the decision made by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population on the initiative of the Society of Appraisers of Azerbaijan to add the servant positions related to appraiser activity in the Uniform Tariff Survey book in the Republic of Azerbaijan is of great importance for the prospective development and regulation of appraisal activity.

At present, ASA closely cooperates with associations and societies of appraisers of the Russian Federation, Lithuania, Moldova, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Great Britain, USA, as well as with international organizations of Appraisers and Realtors. In 2002, ASA became one of the founders of the "Council of CIS Appraisers Associations". This determined the basis for the creation of a regional international association and the creation of a unified valuation space in its participating states, has created a basis for simplifying the mutual investment process and resolving disputes. We should note that such regional international institutions have been operating in Europe for a long time (eg. the European Group of Appraisers' Associations). The main goals of the creation of international public organizations of this kind are to assist in the development of the valuation activity system in the participating states, creation of the relevant normative and legal base, improvement of the qualification of appraisers, the harmonization of national valuation standards with the country's statistical and financial reporting system, in international organizations, state authorities and management structures, to protect the legal, economic and social interests of its members and to provide them with the necessary information.

At the same time, membership in public associations confirms the level of professionalism of appraisers , the ability to obtain the necessary information, they get the right to speak on behalf of these unions and use their symbols. ASA distributes the bulletins, questionnaires and other methodical materials issued for its members throughout the territory of the republic, develops and approves normative acts, conducts seminars, trainings, publishes books. The purpose of the society is to support the activities of specialists engaged in the valuation of various types of property.

At the present time, the following provisions are considered as the basis for the valuation activity by the management board of the ASA:

• As a scientific field, the valuation activity requires the appraiser  to have special knowledge, the ability to find solutions to the complex issues of professional valuation, and to perform the valuation activity at a high level of professionalism;
• By preventing incompetence and insincerity, to provide a certain level of service to the state, legal and natural persons acting as an appraisal customer, and to protect rights of consumers who use property valuation services.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of its activities, the Azerbaijan Society of Appraisers solves three main issues:

• Achieving the development and stability of the valuation services market by various means, including by creating equal conditions for all participants of the valuation market;
• To ensure the protection of its members against illegal claims of third parties related to the quality of valuation services;
• To ensure the protection of the interests of consumers of valuation services by various means, including by raising the level of professionalism of its members.

One of the main functions of the public associations of appraisers in the process of regulation of activity in this field is to develop appraisal standards and rules of ethical behavior of appraisers. These standards serve to increase the efficiency of appraisers ' activities, to standardize the content and structure of reports, to increase the quality of services provided to customers, and to establish long-term business relations with them. Another direction of activity of the Azerbaijan Society of Appraisers was the preparation of national appraisal standards. For this purpose, in 2004-2006, up to 20 national valuation standards ("Valuation of debt obligations and collateral for loans", "Valuation of property and other rights", "Valuation of intellectual property", "Market value as a basis for valuation", "Appraisers' code of professional ethics", "Valuation of securities", "Valuation of real estate", "Valuation of investment programs”, etc.) has been developed and presented to the relevant state authorities. An initiative group, consisting of leading appraisers  and economists, dealing with this issue, was created under the ASA. The National ValuationStandards developed by ASA have been in force since 2009.