British Columbia · Architect seal requirements
British Columbia Architect seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Architects in British Columbia seal under AIBC Bylaws §§ 4.96–4.99 (Issuance and Use of Architect's Seal), version of 21 April 2026; Schedule A: Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Professional Standards 8.0, administered by the Architectural Institute of British Columbia. The seal reads “Registered Architect British Columbia”. The Bylaws prescribe no diameter. The AIBC issues the Seal in three formats — rubber stamp, embossing Seal and Digital Certificate Seal — and the rubber stamp is available in two sizes, neither of which the AIBC publishes as a dimension.
Two statutes that older summaries still cite for British Columbia are repealed. The Engineers and Geoscientists Act was repealed by Professional Governance Act § 133 effective 5 February 2021 (B.C. Reg. 11/2021), and the Architects Act was repealed 10 February 2023 (B.C. Reg. 32/2023); engineers and architects are now governed by the Professional Governance Act, which describes no seal and instead lets each regulator's board make bylaws providing for the issuance of a seal and governing its use (PGA § 49(3)). The legend that used to sit in Architects Act § 77(2)(b) survives in AIBC Bylaw 4.97 without its comma — the repealed Act said "Registered Architect, British Columbia" and the Bylaw says Registered Architect British Columbia. AIBC Bulletins 60 and 61 were replaced on 4 December 2024 by the Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal, now in its August 2026 edition, which renames the AIBC's sole certificate authority from Notarius to Portage CyberTech; the AIBC Bylaws of 21 April 2026 still print "Notarius" in the Professional Standard 8.5 commentary with a marginal note recording the change. Land surveyors had no seal of any kind until the ABCLS added Part 11, Non-Statutory Surveys, to the Survey and Plan Rules in version 1.16, effective 15 January 2026; the ABCLS does not publish those Rules as a PDF, so the citations here are to rule numbers as the ABCLS itself numbers them on its site. No British Columbia regulator publishes a seal diameter for any of the three professions.
British Columbia Architect seal
- Legend
- “Registered Architect British Columbia”
- Diameter
- The Bylaws prescribe no diameter. The AIBC issues the Seal in three formats — rubber stamp, embossing Seal and Digital Certificate Seal — and the rubber stamp is available in two sizes, neither of which the AIBC publishes as a dimension.
- Expiration date
- The seal leaves an impression of the architect's name and the words "Registered Architect, British Columbia", and nothing else. An architect who ceases to be a member must promptly return the seal to the institute, so currency is policed by recall rather than by a printed date.(Architects Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 17, s. 77(2)(b), (3))
- Signature date
- "An architect must apply a seal, with signature and date, to letters of assurance, certificates, drawings and specifications prepared by or under the architect's supervision, direction or control." AIBC Bulletin 61 confirms that sealing is shorthand for seal plus signature plus date.(Architects Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 17, s. 77(1))
- City on seal
- The impression names the province, not a city or place of business.(Architects Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 17, s. 77(2)(b))
- Every Architect's Seal must include the architect's name as registered with the AIBC and the phrase Registered Architect British Columbia. On application and approval by the Registrar it may also include, in brackets, the name the architect commonly uses in professional practice.(AIBC Bylaws § 4.97)
- An architect applies to the Registrar for issuance of the Seal and the Registrar must issue it. The AIBC retains ownership of all Architect's Seals, and a physical Seal must be returned — or a digital Seal revoked — on cessation of practice for any reason.(AIBC Bylaws §§ 4.96, 4.98)
- A Seal, with signature and date, must be applied to drawings and specifications issued for approval or reliance by any party, to Letters of Assurance, to certificates for payment and as to construction performance when acting as a payment certifier under contract, and to formal reports including expert reports, building code or zoning analysis reports and written opinions.(AIBC Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Professional Standard 8.3)
- An architect transmitting documents electronically must apply the Seal with an AIBC-approved Digital Certificate. No document bearing an image of an Architect's Seal in digital form is validly sealed unless the architect applies an AIBC Digital Certificate to it, and Portage CyberTech, formerly Notarius, is the only acceptable provider of that certificate.(AIBC Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Professional Standard 8.5; AIBC Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal (August 2026) §§ 7.2–7.3)
- Applications other than Portage CyberTech's own ConsignO — Bluebeam and Adobe Acrobat Pro among them — may be used to apply the digital Seal, but the AIBC and Portage CyberTech support only ConsignO.(AIBC Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal (August 2026) § 7.9)
- The Seal must not be applied to blank documents, drawing templates, title blocks or other incomplete or unchecked documents, to as-built drawings from contractor mark-ups or to shop drawings, as a commercial or business seal, on fee proposals and business letters, or to declarations on professional liability insurance.(AIBC Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, Professional Standard 8.4)
- The date must be on or adjacent to the Seal and must be the date the Seal is applied; no backdating or forward-dating is permitted, and a date of issue or revision date in a title block does not count as the seal date.(AIBC Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal (August 2026) §§ 6.4–6.5)
- The Seal must never be altered for any reason, and it can only be obtained from the AIBC.(AIBC Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal (August 2026) §§ 8.1, 8.3)
British Columbia architect seal questions
Does a British Columbia architect's seal read "Registered Architect, British Columbia"?▾
Without the comma. Bylaw 4.97 requires every Architect's Seal to include the architect's name as registered with the AIBC and the phrase Registered Architect British Columbia, and since the AIBC issues the Seal itself there is no room to vary it. The comma belongs to § 77(2)(b) of the Architects Act, repealed on 10 February 2023 and still quoted verbatim in write-ups that have not caught up with the repeal. (AIBC Bylaws §§ 4.97, 4.98 (21 April 2026); Architects Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 17, § 77(2)(b) (repealed 10 February 2023))
What diameter is a British Columbia architect's seal?▾
The AIBC publishes none. The Bylaws prescribe no dimension at all, and the Practice Guideline says only that the AIBC issues the Seal in three formats — one of them a Digital Certificate Seal — without publishing a dimension for any of them. Because the AIBC issues the Seal itself, any diameter quoted for a British Columbia architect's seal has come from somewhere other than the regulator. (AIBC Bylaws §§ 4.96–4.98; AIBC Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal (August 2026) § 6.1)
Can a British Columbia architect put their working name on the seal?▾
Not by choice. The Seal carries the architect's name as registered with the AIBC. The name an architect commonly uses in professional practice may be added, in brackets, but only upon application and approval by the Registrar — and once the Seal is issued it must never be altered for any reason. (AIBC Bylaws § 4.97; AIBC Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal (August 2026) § 8.3)
Can a British Columbia architect limit their seal to "architectural only"?▾
No. The Practice Guideline states that the authority of the Seal should not be diminished with disclaimers, and the example it gives is exactly this one: sharing a document with an engineer and limiting the Seal to "architectural only" is not acceptable. A qualifying note beside the Seal does not narrow what the Seal means. (AIBC Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal (August 2026) § 6.12)
Does a British Columbia architect seal every page of a specification?▾
It depends on the document, and the one-page allowance is written for the physical Seal. A bound set of pages such as specifications or a report may be sealed on one page with a physical Seal, provided all pages are numbered, a table of contents is provided and the binding is of a permanent type. Large format drawing sets bound with staples should be sealed on each page. (AIBC Practice Guideline: Use of the Architect's Seal (August 2026) § 6.8)