BDVI is a REV awarding member association.

The association has the right to award Recognised European Valuer status (designated by the letters REV™) to its members.

Luisenstrasse 46
D-10117 Berlin

Tel: +49 (0)30 240 838-3
Fax: +49 (0)30 240 838-59

President: Mr. ÖbVI Dipl.-Ing. Michael Zurhorst
1st Vice President: Mr. ÖbVI Dipl.-Ing. Hans Ulrich Esch
2d Vice President: Mr. ÖbVI Dipl.-Ing. Udo Stichling
Managing Director: Mrs Martina Wolkowa
Secretariat: 4.5 staff

Number of direct members: 1.300
Number of qualified valuers (individuals): 130
Number of valuation companies: none
Member of TEGoVA since: fonding member
Category of membership: Full

Christoph Pötinger
Delegate

Gödenstrasse 10-11
D - 14776 Brandenburg an der Havel
Tel: +49 (0)33 81-63 00-00
Fax: +49 (0)33 81-63 00-26

Wolfgang Glunz REV
Delegate

Am Stadion 3b
D-40878 Ratigen
Tel: +49 (0)2102 83038
Fax: +49 (0)2102 87 39 26

The Association of Publicly Appointed Surveyors (BDVI) is the professional group of the publicly appointed surveyors in Germany. As an economic and professional association the BDVI represents the interests of its approximately 1,300 members within the association as well as towards the political, economic and administrative sector.

The priority of the association's work is on the one hand to strengthen the individual professional as a part of the public surveying system and on the other hand to underline the general interest in the appointed liberal professionals helping to establish the profession.

The Association of Publicly Appointed Surveyors follows the tradition which has been kept for more than one hundred years by the body representing the interests of freelance surveyors in Germany. The association has developed to one of the most important associations in the surveying sector over decades determined and challenged by the reconstruction and reunification of Germany. Nowadays the BDVI considers it as its main responsibility to lead the profession into the European future representing a model for public services provided by liberal professionals.

Principal Responsibilities and Aims:

* representation of the interests of its members within the association and towards the political, economic and administrative sector
* consolidation of the publicly appointed surveyors as a part of the public surveying sector
burden on state relieved by publicly appointed surveyors
* standardization of the professional and surveying law in Europe

1. The law collection of the BDVI

If you are a member of the BDVI, you are permitted access to the law collection which represents an online service.

The law collection consists of laws and regulations relevant to the profession of the publicly appointed surveyor and is adopted to the different Länder. It comprises the respective surveying and professional law as well as the relevant laws concerning building, property, valuation and fee regulations. This indispensable work is completed by a general overview of the administration of justice which is relevant to you.

A handy and up-to-date version of this important aid is also available on CD-ROM.

2. FORUM

The association's journal 'FORUM'; informs about current issues in the area of surveying. The journal is the organ of the association. This medium informs you about current developments relevant to your profession.

3. BDVI-Info

The BDVI Info is the internal newsletter of the association. It provides the members with internal information about the association by e-mail. Our members can call up bills, statements by the BDVI concerning these bills, current verdicts, statements by the in-house lawyer, the minutes of the members assemblies, etc.

The BDVI newsletter is an essential element of the association's work. It provides the members with the latest information about all events happening within the association as well as about its varied fields of activity.

4. Currents aspects on the homepage in the internet

The Association of Publicly Appointed Surveyors does not miss any current development. Therefore you can call up a huge number of information and verdicts. Internal information about the association are reserved to you there, but you need a password to have access to this area.

5. Dates and events in Germany and the Federal Lands

If you click on the button 'Dates and Events' of our website, you will find current information about the work of the association's bodies and committees. Ideas and suggestions may be discussed and passed on to the respective bodies.

Two important events in the BDVI calendar are the annual congress and the participation of the association in the trade fair 'Intergeo'.

Students and teaching staffs are made aware of the professional group by interdisciplinary lecture series at German universities.

A fundamental element of the BDVI work in the area of professional policy is to influence the political and economic sector. It is the association's aim to safeguard the profession of the publicly appointed surveyor, i.e. the liberal professional assuming sovereign responsibilities as a model with a future within the German system for security for land ownership by influencing these fields.

The representation of the professional group's interests is implemented by lobbying in the federal and Land Parliaments as well as in the European Commission and the European Parliament in Brussels. Agendas and announcements by the Land Parliaments and the German Bundestag are continuously evaluated by the BDVI. The association also participates in hearings of associations for the introduction of bills on a federal and Länder level. It is also natural for the association to communicate with politicians of all parliaments on all levels. A large number of 'Parliamentary Nights'; could be used to influence the development of political objectives.

The examples mentioned in the following sentence are only two examples of the association's effective work on a federal level.

The profession of the publicly appointed surveyor has successfully been integrated into § 46 paragraph 4 of the German Building Code (shift of surveying and cadastral tasks to the publicly appointed surveyor in procedures of reallocation) and into § 53 paragraph 4 of the Agricultural Amendment Law (the publicly appointed surveyor as a person in charge of the enforcement of procedures for the finding and reform of the reallocation of property).

The BDVI is also very committed at Land level where the association makes its contributions to all the relevant issues proving its expertise. Examples of this commitment are the surveying laws in Baden-Württemberg, North-Rhine Westphalia and Saarland and the profession rules in Saxony.

The association is also highly regarded as an expert adviser in the political and economic sector.

If the information provided in the law collection are not sufficient for your purposes or if you need any explanation, you can turn to our qualified in-house lawyers in Cologne. The lawyers Mr. Heinz Christian Esser and Dr. Rüdiger Holthausen offer you legal advice concerning all professional questions and can give interpretation assistance concerning the application of legal provisions like, for example, the profession rules, the fee regulations or the fee scale for architects and engineers and help to work out joint practice contracts, etc.

Contact:

Lawyers Esser & Holthausen
Am Römerturm 1
D-50667 Cologne
Phone: +49 221/56099-0
Fax: +49 221/56099-90
E-mail: Justitiar@bdvi.de

* seminars on how to set up one's own business
* guidance of staff and office management
* further training of staff
* land law, valuation, quality management
* benchmarking decree and surveying law
* and other things

Members of the BDVI profit from the social fund. The social fund is a funeral expenses insurance scheme which supports the dependants financially in the event of a member's death. At present the amount of the assistance is 4,000 Euros.

At present there are nine committees, in which members of the association work on issues relevant to the profession. They work out statements and develop constructive ideas which are presented to political decision-making bodies. A large number of statements has encouraged politicians to propose laws for the respective issues.
The committee 'Standard Profession Rules'; dealing with the subject of 'Fundamental Issues of the Profession'; has worked out Standard Profession Rules for publicly appointed surveyors, which will be continued in the future.

Among the committees of experts operating nationwide for the association are the following:

* Fundamental Issues of the Profession
* Land Division and Consolidation / Valuation
* Fee Regulations / Fee Scale for Architects and Engineers
* Construction and Planning Regulations
* Public Relations Work / Politics / Associations
* International Affairs
* Bargaining Committee
* Technology / GPS

The Association of Publicly Appointed Surveyors, which is registered in the register of associations as an incorporated association, has its own Articles of Association . The articles of association codify the BDVI's name, head office as well as the association's aims and responsibilities.

The association's most important body is the Committee . The committee is chaired by the president and the first and second vice-presidents. This body represents the association externally and implements the decisions made by the executive board and the general assembly, e.g. fee regulations and professional code of conduct. The committee of the BDVI sets up committees of experts for the discussion of the most important issues and substantiates the representation of interests and an advisory function towards representatives from the political, economic and administrative sector.

As the Länder are responsible for surveying, the BDVI is divided into several regional factions. At present there are 15 regional factions, which are involved in committed association politics on the spot. Bavaria has not yet introduced the public appointment of freelance professionals. The responsibilities assumed by the regional factions are codified in the respective rules of procedure.

The Executive Board consists of the chairmen of the 15 regional factions as well as of the association's most important office-holders.

The association's work is based on the voluntary commitment of its members and the work of its full-time employees. The BDVI's office in Berlin considers itself as a service provider for the association's members and as a mediator between its members and the information relevant to professional policy issues and their protagonists. The work of the bodies and committees is prepared, support is given to the regional factions and the varied contacts to other associations, institutions and decision-making bodies are extended and cultivated by the BDVI's office.

The association has full, associate and sponsoring members.

A full member may be:

* Publicly appointed surveyor
* Surveyor who posesses an unlimited authenticating surveying license

A aiding member may be:

* Natural person, except publicly appointed surveyor or surveyor with an unlimited authenticating surveying license
* Legal person,
who are willing to support the BDVI aims strongly.

The information leaflet 'Alles hat sein Maß'; and 'Ingenieurvermessung' inform about the professional group of publicly appointed surveyors, their tasks and responsibilities and about their areas of activity.

In addition, the BDVI publishes every year a popular wall calendar with pictures from the surveying sector.

The information leaflets 'The BDVI - An innovative professional body with a mission statement ...', which is also available in English, and the information leaflet 'Alles hat seinen Wert' are the two new information leaflets worked out by the BDVI. These information leaflets give contact addresses, present the BDVI as a qualified service provider and show the fundamental political points of view and aims of the professional association. The information leaflet 'Publicly appointed surveyors are active for you', which is also available in English, informs publicly appointed surveyors about persons and institutions which may be important to them. Among them are the following:

* private clients
* architects, planners and property developers
* towns, municipalities and local institutions
* property owners and notaries
* technical administrations

The BDVI also offers to rent topic-related banners for seminars and lectures as well as an exhibition stand. For more details please contact the BDVI?s office.

The information leaflets are available at the BDVI?s office or directly at the agency expression employed by the BDVI (50 information leaflets are free of charge for every publicly appointed surveyor).

You can select a German land by clicking on it on the map. Then a list of the members working as publicly appointed surveyors will appear. The list contains the members' names, their address, phone and fax number and their e-mail address (if they have one). If the member has got its own website, you can directly go to this website by clicking on the member's name.