Licensee’s Seal

PURPOSE: This rule describes the format for personal seal of an architect, a professional engineer, a professional land surveyor, and a professional landscape architect. (1) Each person licensed as an architect, professional engineer, professional land surveyor, or professional landscape architect (not including interns or individuals “in-training”) shall, at his/her own expense, secure a seal one and three-quarters inches (1 3/4") in diameter of the following design: the seal shall consist of two concentric circles between which appear in roman capital letters, the words, “State of Missouri” on the upper part of the seal and either “Architect,” or “Professional Engineer,” or “Professional Land Surveyor” or “Professional Landscape Architect,” as the case may be, on the lower part, and within the inner circle the name of the licensee, together with his/her license number preceded by the roman capital letter(s) A for Architect, PE for Professional Engineer, PLS for Professional Land Surveyor or PLA for Professional Landscape Architect. (A) The seal of an architect licensed prior to January 1, 2002 may display “Registered Architect” on the lower part and within the inner circle the name of the licensee, together with his/her license number preceded by the roman capital letter A. (B) The seal of a professional engineer licensed prior to January 1, 2002 may display “Registered Professional Engineer” on the lower part and within the inner circle the name of the licensee, together with his/her license number preceded by the roman capital letter E. (C) The seal of a professional land surveyor licensed prior to January 1, 2002 may display “Registered Land Surveyor” on the lower part and within the inner circle the name of the licensee, together with his/her license number preceded by the roman capital letters LS. (D) The seal of a professional landscape architect licensed prior to January 1, 2015 may display “Landscape Architect” on the lower part and within the inner circle the name of the licensee, together with his/her license number preceded by the roman capital letters LA. (2) The seal may be in the form of an embossing seal, a rubber stamp, or a computer-generated image, identical in size, design and content with the provisions of section (1) above. (3) In addition to the personal seal, the licensee shall also affix his/her signature and place the date when the document was originally sealed, at the minimum, to the original of each sheet in a set of all final technical submissions that include, but are not limited to, drawings, specifications, exhibits, plats, reports, surveys, and certifications of construction prepared by the licensee or under his/her immediate personal supervision. The term “signature,” as used herein means the following: (A) For a hand drawing (e.g., paper, vellum, mylar), printed document or computer generated hard copy media, a handwritten “wet signature” identification containing the name of the person who applied it. (B) For electronic or digital documents transmitted to others in their native file format (e.g., AutoCAD, Revit, Word, or Excel), a digital signature with an electronic authentication process attached to or logically associated with the document. The digital signature must be unique to, and under the sole control of the person using it; it must also be capable of verification and be linked to a document in such manner that the digital signature is invalidated if any data on the document is altered. (C) For electronic or digital documents transmitted to others in a “pdf” or similar format that has modified the native file so that it is not easily altered, a scanned signature is acceptable if it is an accurate depiction of the licensee’s actual signature. (4) When revisions are made the licensee who made the revisions, or under whose immediate personal supervision the revisions were made, shall sign, seal, and date each sheet and provide an explanation of the revisions. Revisions to technical submissions which are not made or approved by the licensee are prohibited. (5) In lieu of signing, sealing, and dating each page, the licensee(s) may sign, seal, and date the title page, an index page, or a seals page on bound multiple page documents not considered to be drawings, providing that the signed page clearly identifies all of the other pages comprising the bound volume. Provided further that any of the other pages which were prepared by, or under the immediate personal supervision of another licensee be signed, sealed, and dated as provided for, by the other licensee. Any additions, deletions, or other revisions are prohibited unless signed, sealed, and dated by the licensee who made the revisions or under whose immediate personal supervision the revisions were made. (6) An original document which is sealed, signed, and dated (by hand or electronically) by the licensee may be reproduced by photocopy, traditional blue printing, faxing, scanning in “pdf,” publishing or printing to “pdf,” or similar format. (7) Technical submissions shall be signed, sealed, and dated unless clearly designated preliminary or incomplete, not to be used for construction, or is a record drawing of asbuilt construction information provided by others. If the document is preliminary or incomplete, not to be used for construction, or is a record drawing of as-built construction information provided by others, the phrase, “The information on this document is preliminary or incomplete, not for construction, recording purposes, or implementation” or similar disclaimer and notice to others shall be placed in an obvious location so that it is readily found, easily read, and not obscured by other markings. (8) In the instance of one (1) licensee performing design for other licensees to incorporate into his/her documents, each licensee shall seal, date, and sign those documents, using the appropriate disclaimer for clarification of each licensee’s responsibility. (9) The signing and sealing of technical submissions not prepared by the licensee or under his/her immediate personal supervision is prohibited. (10) This rule supersedes any conflicting rules. AUTHORITY: sections 327.041 and 327.411, RSMo 2016.* This rule originally filed as 4 CSR 30-3.060. Original rule filed July 24, 2003, effective Feb. 29, 2004. Moved to 20 CSR 2030-3.060, effective Aug. 28, 2006. Amended: Filed Oct. 16, 2006, effective April 30, 2007. Non-substantive change filed Oct. 21, 2015, published Dec. 31, 2015. Amended: Filed March 30, 2018, effective Sept. 30, 2018. *Original authority: 327.041, RSMo 1969, amended 1981, 1986, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2010, 2014 and 327.411, RSMo 1969, amended 1999, 2003, 2010, 2014. Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, AND INSURANCE and Professional Landscape Architects