Chartered Professional Engineer

You’re competent and committed. Take your career to the next level by registering as a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng).

Become a Chartered Professional Engineer

A Chartered Professional Engineer is an experienced engineer who has been assessed as meeting a quality mark of competence. It shows the engineer can deal with complex engineering problems requiring expert technical knowledge. They must be reassessed at least every six years to maintain their CPEng status.

Although CPEng engineers need to demonstrate New Zealand-specific technical experience, CPEng is a competency mark with international accreditation.

‘Chartered Professional Engineer’ is also a protected title, and those holding this title registered with the Registration Authority for Chartered Professional Engineers and must adhere to a Code of Ethical Conduct

Over the past few years, the Government has been working on potential changes to the way engineering is regulated. In March 2022, Cabinet agreed to a new licensing regime for engineers doing safety-critical work, but this will take some years to be fully implemented.

In the meantime, any engineer who thinks they may want to become a Chartered Professional Engineer should apply for assessment, even if you might need to be licensed in the future. Find out more about occupational regulation.

If you’re looking for information about Certified Professional Engineering Surveyors (CPESurv) or Certified Professional Land Development Engineers (CPLDEng), you’re in the wrong place. CPESurv and CPLDEng are surveying qualifications, not engineering qualifications. You can learn more about them on the Survey and Spatial New Zealand website.

ELIGIBILITY

To become a Chartered Professional Engineer, you must:

Have a Washington Accord-accredited qualification (Bachelor of Engineering, Honours) or be able to demonstrate equivalent knowledge.
Complete an assessment to demonstrate you meet the competence standard.
Commit to the CPEng Code of Ethical Conduct.
Be reassessed at least every 6 years to maintain your CPEng registration.

You don’t need to be a member of Engineering New Zealand to apply.

ANNUAL FEES AND CHARGES

See our fees page for the most up to date fees.

HOW TO APPLY

You can apply to be a Chartered Professional Engineer through our member area online. Engineering New Zealand members will already have access. If you're not an Engineering New Zealand member, simply sign up to access our online area and then set your goal. We'll then be able to recommend the next step for you to reach your Chartership goal.

Guidance

ASSESSMENT

Before you formally submit your application, you will be asked to submit your draft application for a member of our assessment team to check. This is an important step that provides you with feedback on ways you could improve your application, so you're more likely to be successful.

After you’ve submitted your application online, a panel of your peers will:

assess your application against international competence standards
schedule a meeting with you
potentially ask you for more information
get feedback from your referees
write a report with recommendations to the Competence Assessment Board (CAB)

Structural reassessments

If you’re a structural engineer due for reassessment, see our Guidance for structural reassessment candidates.

Expert structural assessors needed

We're always on the lookout for expert structural assessors for our structural triage panel and structural specialist panel.

Find out how to contribute your expertise as an expert structural assessor.

Registration Authority

Engineering New Zealand is the Registration Authority under the Chartered Professional Engineers New Zealand Act 2002. This means we maintain the Register of Chartered Professional Engineers and manage applications and assessments.

Chartered Professional Engineers Council (CPEC)

The Chartered Professional Engineers Council is a statutory body established 1 July 2002 under the Chartered Professional Engineers Act 2002. The Council must be composed of at least six, but no more than eight members including:

three people nominated by Engineering New Zealand
one person nominated by the Association of Consulting Engineers of New Zealand
2–4 people nominated by the Minister
a Council Chairman and a Deputy Chairman.

The Council:

reviews and approves any changes to the CPEng Rules relating to minimum standards for assessment and ethical conduct
hears appeals from decisions of the Registration Authority on disciplinary matters including decisions not to renew the registration of a Chartered Professional Engineer
reviews and reports to the Minister on the performance of the Registration Authority and The Chartered Professional Engineers Council (CPEC) in exercising their respective functions and powers under the Act

The Chartered Professional Engineers Act 2002

This Act replaced the Engineers Registration Act 1924 and its purpose is to create a quality mark, for engineers and place their names on a public register.

The CPEng Act lets purchasers of engineering services know who the profession sees as competent practitioners by allowing them use of the title Chartered Professional Engineer.

Chartered Professional Engineers Act

Chartered Professional Engineers Rules

Learn more about how we are working with MBIE on changes to the way that engineers are regulated.

Design Verifiers

Chartered Professional Engineers can also become Design Verifiers by demonstrating design and design review competence in one or more of these equipment categories:

Pressure Equipment
Cranes
Passenger Ropeways.

What is a Design Verifier?

Under the Health and Safety in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes, and Passenger Ropeways) Regulations 1999, a design verifier is a person employed or engaged by an accredited inspection body to carry out equipment design verification.

Read the Legislation

Design Verifiers must hold current competence certificates issued by a Qualifications Issuing Agency, such as Engineering New Zealand.

To apply for Design Verifier Registration you’ll need to meet the required Chartered Professional Engineering standard in a practice area that includes one or more of the categories of design verification work.

Recognised Engineers

Chartered Professional Engineers can also apply for registration as Recognised Engineers in accordance with the Building (Dam Safety) Regulations 2022.

A Recognised Engineer must be registered both as a Chartered Professional Engineer and Recognised Engineer with Engineering New Zealand. The Recognised Engineer (RecEng) title is open to professional engineers who:

are currently registered as a Chartered Professional Engineer, or eligible to apply to be a Chartered Professional Engineer (you can apply for RecEng and CPEng at the same time)
are able to practise competently in the area of practice for Potential Impact Classifications (PIC) and Dam Safety Assurance Programmes (DSAP) referred to in the relevant Building Act sections to the reasonable standard of a professional engineer practising in the area
have at least 4 years’ experience in the field of dam safety engineering within the previous 10 years
have relevant experience in and knowledge of dam safety engineering, including relevant experience in and knowledge of 1 or more relevant practice fields for PIC and/or DSAP