The gathering was opened by the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending Ivan Jovanovic who gave a basic overview of the draft law. Jovanovic said that it was drafted by the Working Group comprising representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Economy, National Bank of Serbia, National Mortgage Insurance Corporation, Tax Administration, Republic Geodetic Authority, Association of Serbian Banks, National Association of Valuers of Serbia and consultants recruited by USAID Business Enabling Project.

Assistant Minister Zlatko Milikic spoke about the Draft Law on the Regulation of the Profession of Real Estate Valuer on the behalf of the Ministry of Finance, highlighting the importance of that particular piece of legislation since the Republic of Serbia has no law regulating the profession of real estate valuer. On the occasion, the Assistant Minister explained the chief reasons why the law should be passed saying that it would, among other things, improve the access to funds and the development of business activities, ensure the maintenance of financial stability and avoidance of systemic risk, help the development of the valuation profession toward stronger competence and credibility of the profession, ensure adjustment to the EU Mortgage Credit Directive, etc.

“Essentially, this law requires the valuers licensed by the Ministry of Finance, to remain in touch with the new developments in international standards relating to real estate valuation, with European directives, to apply relevant methodologies in the valuation of real estate and follow the basic ethics code, as well as everything else stipulated by the taw”, said Milikic.

The assembly was also addressed by Krzysztof Grzesik, Chairman of the European Group of Valuers' Associations, who was one of the consultants working on the draft law. On the occasion he gave an overview of the law in the context of European legislation. “The profession of real estate valuer has gone through a kind of a revolution in Europe in the last years, primarily because of the financial crisis which many believed valuers are partially responsible for. This led the European Commission and European Central Bank to become interested in supervising the activities of valuers all over Europe and note with some concern the marked discrepancies in the real estate valuation methodology and standards. As a result, the European Commission started to work on regulating the valuation profession, and passed a great many directives to that end, the most important of which being the EU Mortgage Credit Directive”, said Grzesik in conclusion, which was then followed by a discussion.

Besides the members of the Committee on Finance, State Budget and Control of Public Spending, the gathering was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Ministry of Economy, National Bank of Serbia, National Mortgage Insurance Corporation, Tax Administration, Republic Geodetic Authority, Association of Serbian Banks, National Association of Valuers of Serbia and consultants recruited by USAID Business Enabling Project.