The Chapter shall encompass all sovereign states in Europe that are members of the Council of Europe and Belarus. This jurisdictional area will hereinafter be referred to as “Europe”. The purpose of the Chapter is the advancement of the objectives of the IAAO in Europe, to develop professionalism in assessment administration, to raise the standards of the profession, to gain recognition by governmental authorities of the assessing profession, and to gain for members recognition as qualified, objective, and unbiased assessors of property values. The Chapter shall also work to educate the public regarding the ad valorem system or similar property tax systems and work to provide a clearinghouse for the collection and distribution of useful information relating to assessment practice; and in every proper way to promote justice and equity in the distribution of the tax burden.