1. ANEVAR has recently joined the EEEI. Could you introduce your organisation and the values that guide its activities?
Since 2011, the profession of authorised valuer has been regulated by Government Ordinance No. 24/2011, and ANEVAR has the status of a professional organisation of public utility, responsible for organising, coordinating and authorising the practice of the profession in Romania. The profession was first organised in 1992, with the former non-governmental association being taken over by the current association.
Specifically, the Association organises the examinations for entry into the profession, grants the status of authorised valuer, adopts the mandatory valuation standards and monitors compliance with them. It also coordinates professional training and maintains the Association Register, in which authorised valuers are registered.
What guides us, first and foremost, is professional independence and competence. A valuation report has value only insofar as the person using it can be certain that the opinion expressed is documented, impartial and compliant with the standards. For us, this trust is the foundation of the profession.
2. How has the valuation profession evolved in Romania in recent years, and what are its main challenges today?
The profession has changed considerably, both in terms of regulation and its field of application. Authorised valuers now work with real estate, businesses and intangible assets, movable assets, shares, and other financial instruments. Valuations are required for loan security, financial reporting, taxation, insurance, insolvency, litigation, expropriations, or transactions.
Digitalisation has advanced, while access to information and the use of databases have become decisive. Standards have also changed, users’ requirements have become more complex, and today the valuer must understand the asset together with the entire economic, legal and technological context in which it exists.
The challenges? The quality and availability of data remain the foremost concerns, together with the lack of uniformity among databases. Added to these are markets volatility, complex or atypical assets, pressure on deadlines and fees, new ESG requirements, and the responsible integration of digital tools and artificial intelligence.
3. What role do authorised valuers play within the Romanian judicial system? In which types of proceedings is their contribution essential?
In Romania, a distinction must be made. The status of authorised valuer is granted by ANEVAR, in accordance with Government Ordinance No. 24/2011. The status of judicial technical expert is governed by separate legislation, namely Government Ordinance No. 2/2000, as well as the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure, and this professional category is coordinated by the Ministry of Justice. When a court orders a judicial technical expert examination in the field of valuation, the appointed expert must meet the legal requirements governing judicial expertise. A large proportion of our members hold both statuses.
The valuer’s contribution becomes essential when resolving the case requires the determination or analysis of the value of assets, businesses, equity interests, damages, or property rights. Such situations are frequent: partitions and successions, expropriations, enforcement proceedings, insolvencies and reorganisations, shareholder disputes, challenges to transactions, and compensation claims.
The valuer’s role is to provide the court with an independent professional opinion, based on data and recognised methods, while explaining the assumptions, limitations, and reasoning that led to the conclusion.
4. How are the relationships between judges, judicial experts and authorised valuers structured in Romania?
The judge directs the proceedings: the judge sets the objectives of the expert examination, appoints the expert, establishes the deadline and the provisional fee, and assesses the report together with the other evidence administered in the case.
The judicial technical expert works independently and impartially. The expert strictly addresses the objectives set by the court, analyses the relevant documents and data, respects the principle of adversarial proceedings, and presents clear and reasoned conclusions. Where appropriate, the expert also responds to observations or objections raised regarding the report.
Under the conditions provided by law, the parties may be assisted by expert advisers, who participate in the expert examination operations and may submit observations. The separation of roles remains essential: the expert provides specialist knowledge, while the legal decision belongs to the court.
ANEVAR supports the development of dialogue between valuation professionals and legal professionals, including through joint debates. Judicial expertise was, moreover, a distinct topic at our professional events this autumn.
5. What mechanisms are in place to ensure the independence, competence and quality of the valuations carried out by ANEVAR members?
The Romanian system has several levels. Entry into the profession requires meeting the legal conditions, passing the examinations, completing the traineeship and obtaining a professional specialisation. This process is achieved through registration in the Association Register and the acquisition of the right to practise, evidenced by a valid membership card or authorisation.
Once admitted to the profession, the valuer must comply with the Valuation Standards for Assets adopted by ANEVAR, the Code of Ethics, the requirements of independence and objectivity, the obligation of continuing professional development. They must also meet the requirement to hold professional liability insurance. The valuer’s activity may be subject to monitoring, and any breach of the standards, the Code of Ethics or the legislation governing the profession entails disciplinary liability.
However, monitoring also has a preventive function. Problems that recur in practice are turned into course topics, so that the experience of some becomes knowledge for all. Activity reporting is carried out through ANEVAR’s platforms.
6. How are valuers trained in Romania, and which skills do you consider essential for practising the profession today?
Access to the traineeship programme requires university studies — there is an approved list of accepted bachelor’s degree fields — and passing the examination to acquire trainee member status. The training includes common modules and specialisation modules: the valuation of businesses and intangible assets, real estate, movable assets, or shares and other financial instruments. The programme includes lectures, tests, consultations, and an examination upon completion of the traineeship. After entering the profession, continuing professional development is mandatory, for a minimum of 20 hours per year.
A valuer needs technical, economic, financial and legal knowledge, as well as the ability to read the market and understand the purpose of the valuation. Analytical thinking, professional judgement, the habit of verifying information, and the ability to explain clearly the reasoning behind the conclusion are all important.
Today, digital competence is also required: understanding how databases, automated models and artificial intelligence tools work. Without ethics, professional scepticism and taking responsibility for the final result, however, this competence remains incomplete.
7. International Valuation Standards have a significant influence on the profession. How does ANEVAR incorporate these standards into national practice?
The International Valuation Standards — IVS — are incorporated into the Valuation Standards for Assets adopted by ANEVAR, which are mandatory for valuation activity in Romania. The 2025 edition covers the general framework, terms of reference, types of value, valuation approaches, inputs, models, documentation and reporting, together with the standards applicable to different categories of assets.
The national collection also includes guidelines adapted to specific areas of Romanian practice, valuation for loan security or for the taxation of buildings, for example.
Our approach is to incorporate in full the IVS principles that can be applied directly and to use national guidelines where the legislative context or local practice requires additional clarification. Harmonisation with IVS brings transparency, consistency and comparability, and strengthens the confidence of investors and international users in reports prepared in Romania.
8. What are the most complex challenges encountered when valuing businesses, financial assets or properties in the context of judicial proceedings or insolvency?
The first difficulty is correctly defining the subject, purpose, and date of the valuation. Value differs substantially depending on whether the premise is the continuation of operations, restructuring, an orderly sale or liquidation.
For businesses and financial assets, the difficulties arise from various reasons:
- limited access to information,
- quality of financial statements,
- estimation of future cash flows, separation of operating assets from non-operating assets,
- analysis of liabilities,
- existence of intangible assets.
Also, uncertainty regarding the continuity of operations.
For properties, issues include legal status, encumbrances, disputes, planning restrictions, the absence of comparable transactions or the specialised nature of the asset. In insolvency, the market is affected by time pressure and the deterioration of assets, while the difference between the value of an operating business and that of its assets sold separately can be considerable.
In judicial cases, work sometimes involves a reference date in the past, incomplete documents or contradictory positions of the parties. The report must therefore clearly separate verified facts from assumptions, the scenarios analysed and the limitations of the conclusion. The valuer must also withstand pressure, whatever the interests at stake in the dispute.
9. Is the development of artificial intelligence, big data and digital tools transforming the valuation profession? What opportunities and risks do you identify?
The transformation is already visible. Digital tools accelerate data collection and processing, portfolio analysis, the identification of comparable properties and the verification of calculations. Automated models are particularly useful for relatively standardised assets and portfolio valuations.
However, they do not replace professional judgement. An automated result is only as good as the data that produced it — its timeliness, relevance, and representativeness. In Romania, the fragmentation and lack of standardisation of databases remain a serious limitation.
The risks relate to the opacity of algorithms, errors, and biases in the data, the use of confidential information, cybersecurity, and the temptation to accept a result without verifying its assumptions. For us, artificial intelligence remains a tool under the valuer’s control. Responsibility for the report and the opinion of value rests with the professional.
10. Are there any practices or innovations developed in Romania that could serve as inspiration for other European countries in the fields of expertise and valuation?
One example is the specialised databases managed by ANEVAR. The Real Estate Collateral Database — BIG — brings together information from valuations carried out for loan security and contains market values, while the Fiscal Information Database — BIF — supports valuation for the taxation of buildings. BIF’s stated purpose is to increase transparency, improve monitoring, enhance the quality of reports and reduce risks.
The preventive focus of monitoring, which we discussed earlier, is also worth mentioning: problems identified in practice become professional training topics.
The digitalisation of activity reporting, platforms dedicated to members, online testing and the use of aggregated data for statistical reports are other directions that can be discussed as part of a European exchange of good practices.
11. What are ANEVAR’s expectations regarding its membership in the EEEI, and what contributions would you like to bring to the European network?
Membership gives us direct access to the European dialogue among judges, experts, lawyers, academics and professional organisations. The EEEI’s mission — the convergence of national judicial expertise systems and improving the quality of expert work — aligns with our objectives.
We want to better understand practices in other countries and participate in projects concerning the training and assessment of experts, ethics, national and European registers, the digitalisation of procedures, and the responsible use of artificial intelligence.
For our part, we can bring to the network the experience of a regulated profession, with mandatory standards, specialisations, continuing professional development, monitoring and professional databases. And the perspective of valuers who actually work in litigation, insolvency, and the valuation of businesses, properties, movable assets and financial instruments.
We hope that this collaboration will bring valuers closer to the judicial system and facilitate the exchange of good practices, joint projects and the participation of Romanian experts in European initiatives.
12. More broadly, what is your vision for the future of valuation expertise in Europe over the next ten years?
The profession will become more digitalised and more interdisciplinary. International standards will carry increasing weight, and users will demand greater transparency regarding the data, assumptions, models, and uncertainties of the valuation.
We believe that stronger European convergence is needed regarding the competence, ethics, independence, and training of experts, without disregarding the legal particularities of each country. Interoperable registers, transparent selection criteria, continuing professional development and quality assessment mechanisms would increase confidence in expert work and facilitate cooperation in cross-border cases.
Artificial intelligence and automated models will take over some repetitive operations. The professional’s role, however, will become more complex: the professional will have to validate data and models, interpret results, explain uncertainty and take responsibility for the conclusion.
13. What place do gender equality and diversity occupy within ANEVAR? Have you observed changes in the representation of women within the valuation profession and within the organisation’s governing bodies?
Entry into the profession and participation in ANEVAR’s activities are based on competence and professional training, with the same criteria for all candidates and members. Equal opportunities seem natural to us in an organisation that promotes integrity and objectivity.
Our data show that, in 2026, women account for 41.31% of all members, a proportion close to the 42.24% recorded in 2012. Among new registrations, women exceeded half in six of the years following regulation, with a maximum of 67.06% in 2024; in 2026, the proportion is 49.09%.
Representation in the governing structures has varied from one term to another. On the Board of Directors, the proportion is 18.18% for the 2026-2027 term, the same as in the last four terms, following the peak of 63.64% reached in 2018-2019. Women currently hold the positions of Treasurer and Vice-President — Chair of the Membership Records Commission. On the Ethics and Disciplinary Commission, the proportion is 42.86% for the 2025-2028 term. On the branch councils, it rose to 41.67% in the 2026-2027 term, compared with 21.88% in the 2012-2013 term.
These data indicate a constant and important presence of women in the profession and significant participation in ANEVAR’s structures, even though representation in the governing bodies has fluctuated between terms. Diversity of experience, training, generation and perspective contributes to the quality of decisions and the development of the profession. For ANEVAR, the objective remains to ensure an open and equitable framework in which access to responsibilities and leadership positions is determined by competence, involvement, and professional integrity.
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