Prior to 1986 all professional engineers resident in the then South West Africa were registered under the auspices of the Engineering Council of South Africa. In 1986 when it became clear that there was a need to register engineers in South West Africa the Engineering Council of Namibia (ECN) was formally constituted by the Engineering Profession Act, 1986 (Act No. 18 of 1986). The Engineering Profession Act, 1986, (Ref.: Act No. 18 of 1986) was promulgated on 11 August 1986 when the Engineering Council of Namibia was established and came into force on 1 February 1987 after publishing this Act in the Government Gazette. This Act was amended in 1991 to suit the needs of the independent Namibia and is now again under scrutiny to conform to the present requirements not only for Namibia, but also for the global engineering environment.