18VAC10-20-760: Use of seal

A. Affixing of a professional seal, signature, and date will indicate that the professional has exercised direct control and personal supervision over the work to which it is affixed. Affixing of the seal, signature, and date also indicates the professional's acceptance of responsibility for the work shown.

1. No professional may affix a seal, signature, and date or certification to plans, plats, documents, drawings, or other works constituting the practice of the professions regulated that has been prepared by an unlicensed or uncertified person unless such works were performed under the direct control and personal supervision of the professional while the unlicensed or uncertified person was an employee of the same firm as the professional or was under written contract to the same firm that employs the professional.

2. If the original professional of record is no longer able to seal, sign, and date completed professional work, such work may be sealed, signed, and dated by another qualified professional pursuant to the standards established in 18VAC10-20-740 G 1.

B. Documents to be sealed.

1. All final documents, including cover sheet of plans, plats, documents, drawings, technical reports, and specifications, and each sheet of plans or plats or drawings prepared by the professional or someone under the professional's direct control and personal supervision, must be sealed, signed, and dated by the professional. All final documents must also bear the professional's name or firm name, address, and project name.

2. For projects involving multiple professional services in the same project, each professional must seal, sign, and date the final documents for the work component that the professional completed or that was completed under the professional's direct control and personal supervision. The professional responsible for the compilation of the project must seal, sign, and date the cover sheet of the aggregate collection of final documents for the project.

C. An electronic seal, signature, and date are permitted to be used in lieu of an original seal, signature, and date when the following criteria, and all other requirements of this section, are met:

1. It is a unique identification of the professional;

2. It is verifiable; and

3. It is under the professional's direct control.

D. Incomplete plans, plats, documents, and drawings, whether advance or preliminary copies, must be so identified on the plans, plats, documents, or drawings and need not be sealed, signed, or dated. Advance or preliminary copies of incomplete plans, plats, documents, and drawings, must be clearly identified as not complete but need not be sealed, signed, or dated.

E. All work performed by a professional who is licensed or certified by this board, including work that is exempt from licensure pursuant to § 54.1-402 of the Code of Virginia, must be sealed, signed, and dated pursuant to subsection B of this section.

F. The original seal must conform in detail and size to the design illustrated in this subsection and must be two inches in diameter. The designs illustrated may not be shown to scale:

*The number referred to is the last six-digit number as shown on the license or certificate. The number is permanent. Leading zeros contained in the six-digit number may be omitted from the seal.