ADMISSION PATHWAYS TO REGISTRATION AS A CHARTERED

PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER IN NEW ZEALAND

CREDIT FOR REGISTRANTS FROM OTHER JURISDICTIONS
1.

INTRODUCTION

The Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) is recognised as the

Registration Authority under the Chartered Professional Engineers of New Zealand
Act 2002.
Acting as the Registration Authority, IPENZ administers the CPEng Register in
accordance with the CPEng Rules at:
http://www.ipenz.org.nz/ipenz/forms/pdfs/CPEngRules.pdf

2.

ESTABLISHING CPENG EQUIVALENCE

The Rules allow the Registration Authority to excuse an applicant from having to
provide certain information where an engineer has previously demonstrated CPEng
Equivalence.
CPEng Equivalence is defined in the Rules to mean a qualification or title that the
Registration Authority determines requires the holder to:
(a) have demonstrated competence at least equivalent to the minimum standard for
registration under the Rules; and
(b) be bound by a code of ethical conduct that is substantially equivalent to the code
of ethical conduct under the Rules
The Registration Authority has determined this to include:

Engineers holding current registration as an International Professional Engineer

Engineers holding current registration as an APEC Engineer

Engineers holding CEng registration or the equivalent professional membership

through a Professional Engineering Institution in the UK, as set out in the
Admissions Pathways Agreement with the Engineering Council (UK)

Engineers holding CPEng or NPER registration in Australia, as set out in the

Admissions Pathways Agreement with Engineers Australia

Engineers registered by the Board of Professional Engineers Queensland as

Registered Professional Engineers Queensland (RPEQ)

A separate document sets out the Admissions Pathways to Professional

Membership of IPENZ.
Link to Membership Credit Schedule

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3.

GENERAL CPENG ADMISSIONS PATHWAYS PROVISIONS

While CPEng Equivalence provides evidence that the engineer has the general
competencies for registration as a Chartered Professional Engineer in New Zealand,
two elements of the competence standard are not necessarily evidenced by the
earlier assessment:

Current competence

Knowledge and application of New Zealand-specific good practice

3.1

ENGINEERS WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED CPENG EQUIVALENCE IN THE

LAST 6 YEARS

If the engineer was assessed within the last 6 years, their CPEng Equivalent
assessment is deemed to provide evidence of current competence.
The engineer is then required to provide evidence of NZ specific good practice and
the following documentation is required:

Application Form

A self-review against relevant element of the CPEng competence standard

(element 2)

evidence of any related continuing professional development.

On registration as a Chartered Professional Engineer, the date of the next

assessment is set as (normally) 6 years from the date of the previous assessment.
This may mean that those who were previously assessed 5 or more years ago will
immediately be issued with a notice requiring them to undertake a continued
registration assessment to be completed within the 6-year period of their last
assessment.

3.2

ENGINEERS WHO HAVE DEMONSTRATED CPENG EQUIVALENCE MORE

THAN 6 YEARS AGO

If the engineer was assessed more than six years ago, they are also required to
demonstrate current competence.
The following documentation is required (in addition to the documentation required
in 3.1 above):

CPD records

work history/CV

work samples demonstrating competence in practice area

referee declarations

3.3

ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Applications are assigned to an assessment panel, which reviews the

documentation and determine whether further evidence or corroboration is required.
In the case of engineers whose area of practice involves significant New Zealand
specific good practice, such as geotechnical or structural engineering, and/or where
current competence is required to be demonstrated, the assessment panel will
normally schedule an interactive interview (typically by videoconference) to
corroborate the information in the application.
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4.

CPENG VIA TRANS TASMAN MUTUAL RECOGNITION

AGREEMENT (TTMRA)

Engineers registered as Registered Professional Engineers of Queensland (RPEQ)

who wish to be registered as CPEng can, under provisions of the Trans-Tasman
Mutual Recognition Act (TTMRA), notify IPENZ of their wish to gain CPEng
registration. The philosophy underpinning the TTMRA is that if there is occupational
equivalence in Australia and New Zealand, registration of an occupation in one
country should be sufficient to enable automatic registration in the other. To achieve
occupational equivalence, RPEQs must do two things:
(i)

they must demonstrate occupational equivalence in their practice area which means competence in New Zealand-specific engineering practice
relevant to their practice area (as in Element 2 of the CPEng competence
standard), and

(ii)

they must have demonstrated their current competence by being assessed

within the last six years. If assessment undertaken for a RPEQ was more
than six years ago, he/she will require assessment of current competence
immediately on attaining registration in the same way that a New Zealand
CPEng must undertake assessment at intervals not exceeding six years to
remain on the CPEng register.

The test for meeting Element 2 of the CPEng competence standard will depend on
the RPEQs practice area and the extent to which there is New Zealand-specific
knowledge of critical importance to competent practice within that field of
engineering. The assessment will not need to be as extensive for engineers
practising in areas where there is a high level of internationalisation in codes and
engineering practice as it would be for those practising in areas where there is a
high level of New Zealand-specific codes etc. Thus someone from a Civil /
structural / geotechnical background will be required to provide more New Zealandspecific evidence than someone from say an information / software engineering
background.
RPEQs should fill out all of the Competence Assessment forms (CA01, CA03, CA04
and CA05) covering their ability to comprehend and apply New Zealand-specific
good practice in their practice area (elements 2, and element 11 so far as it relates
to New Zealand specific good practice)..
IPENZ will respond to notifications from RPEQs in one of three ways:
(i)

Register the RPEQ as CPEng where sufficient evidence has been provided
to demonstrate that current competence for New Zealand-specific practice
(i.e., Element 2) has been met for occupational equivalence; or

(ii)

Register as CPEng with conditions placed on registration with a

requirement that the RPEQ provides additional evidence to achieve current
occupational equivalence (for example, RPEQs who were last assessed
more than 6 years ago, a condition will be that they undertake a continued
registration assessment within a period six months); or

(iii)

Postponement of registration for six months with a requirement that the

RPEQ provides additional evidence to achieve occupational equivalence.

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