Much as the Architects Decree (NLCD 357) has been in existence since 1969, the ARC functioned only for a short up to the mid 70's and gradually got subsumed into the Council of the Ghana Institute of Architects. The GIA for that matter became the de facto registration authority and regulator of the architectural profession in Ghana. However by the mid 1990’s the GIA came to the realisation that it does not in fact have the full legal authority towards the enforcement of the provisions the Architects Decree of 1969. There were several infringements of the Decree by both architects and non architects and the Institute was finding it difficult to discipline or even prosecute offenders. In this regard it set a process in motion in 1997 towards the resuscitation of the Architects Registration Council as outlined in the Architects Decree that would have the powers to actually regulate, police and 'sanitise' the profession. This culminated in the inauguration of the reconstituted Architects Registration Council on the 18th September 2000 by the Ministry of Works and Housing. The Council is subvented by the Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Works and Housing and operates a Secretariat headed by the Registrar as the Chief Executive Officer. It is similar to the Architects Registration Board (ARB) of the UK, the Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON), the South African Council of Architectural Profession(SACAP).