Puerto Rico · Architect seal requirements
Puerto Rico Architect seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Architects in Puerto Rico seal under Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII (Sellos); Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 (20 L.P.R.A. § 711k), administered by the Junta Examinadora de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas de Puerto Rico. The rule allows “Arquitecto” or “Arquitecto Paisajista”. Circular, two (2) inches in diameter.
Ley Núm. 173-1988 creates a single statutory board for engineers, architects, surveyors and landscape architects, but the Department of State administers two: the Junta Examinadora de Ingenieros y Agrimensores de Puerto Rico, whose Reglamento Núm. 9274 was approved and filed 27 April 2021, and the Junta Examinadora de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas de Puerto Rico, whose Reglamento Núm. 7717 was approved 29 June 2009, filed 2 July 2009 and effective thirty days after filing. The operative text of the statute and of both regulations is Spanish. One discrepancy is worth knowing: Reglamento Núm. 7717 enumerates the elements of the architect seal and then forbids "ninguna otra información", while Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 also lists the licensed condition of the holder among the elements of the seal, and the regulation's list does not repeat it. Two citation cautions on the professional college statutes, which are cited here by section of the act rather than by L.P.R.A. title: the compiled text of Ley Núm. 319-1938 published by the Colegio de Ingenieros y Agrimensores places that act at 10 L.P.R.A. §§ 731 et seq., whereas the 1978 session laws cross-reference its § 11 as 20 L.P.R.A. § 741, and the two could not be reconciled against an official compilation; and the text of Ley Núm. 96-1978, § 10 relied on here is the version enacted 6 July 1978, whose later amendments were not verified.
Puerto Rico Architect seal
- Legend (any one)
- “Arquitecto” · “Arquitecto Paisajista”
- Diameter
- Circular, two (2) inches in diameter.
- Expiration date
- "la fecha de expiración" is a required element of the seal face itself, alongside the name, "Arquitecto" or "Arquitecto Paisajista", the license serial number and "Puerto Rico". The seal may carry nothing else.(Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B))
- Signature date
- Ley 173, Art. 16 requires a handwritten signature in addition to the seal but sets no date, and Reglamento 7717 has no counterpart to the engineers' rule on dating a computer-generated seal.(Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 (20 L.P.R.A. § 711k); Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B))
- City on seal
- The rule enumerates the elements and then forbids "ninguna otra información" — no place of business, no emblem, no coat of arms.(Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B))
- Every professional licensed by this Board prints, on the documents and plans he or she makes or authorizes, a circular seal two (2) inches in diameter showing the name of the professional, the profession practiced — "Arquitecto" or "Arquitecto Paisajista" — the serial number of the license, "Puerto Rico", and the expiration date.(Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B))
- The seal shall contain no other information, and no content, emblem or coat of arms, a restriction the regulation ties to Ley Núm. 7 de 8 de agosto de 1952 and Reglamento Núm. 5283 de 3 de agosto de 1995 on use of the Commonwealth arms.(Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B))
- No professional in training may use any seal at all.(Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B))
- The architect must also sign the document in his or her own handwriting, and on plans each individual sheet is sealed and signed by whoever took part in preparing it, with the responsible professional signing and sealing the title page.(Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 (20 L.P.R.A. § 711k))
- Sealing a plan, drawing, specification, study or measurement not prepared by the architect or under his or her immediate and responsible supervision is a prohibited practice, as is sealing anything while a license is inactive, expired, suspended or revoked, and as is using a seal that does not conform to the regulation.(Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. V(G)(5), (13), (14))
- A construction plan or document certified before the corresponding government agency carries a stamp adopted and issued jointly by the Colegio de Arquitectos and the Colegio created by Ley Núm. 319-1938, at $1 per $1,000 or fraction of the value of the construction work, affixed by the professionals responsible for the design of the several parts of the work; that stamp substitutes for the estampilla of Ley Núm. 319-1938, § 11. No department, agency, instrumentality or municipality will approve or treat as valid plans, documents or certifications lacking it, and no stamp is required on plans for housing construction budgeted at less than $1,000 or for improvement projects for low-income families.(Ley Núm. 96 de 6 de julio de 1978, § 10)
Puerto Rico architect seal questions
Does a Puerto Rico architect seal need the license expiration date?▾
The architect seal must carry the license expiration date, which the engineer and surveyor seal does not, and may carry nothing else at all — no other information, no content, no emblem and no coat of arms. Using a professional seal that does not conform to the regulation is a prohibited practice carrying an administrative fine of no less than $100 and not exceeding $5,000; the narrower penalty of $100 to $250 is the one the regulation attaches to a seal that does not conform to the Commonwealth arms law and its regulation. (Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B), Art. V(G)(14), Apéndice A ¶¶ 5, 9)
Which board sets the seal rule for a Puerto Rico architect?▾
Not the engineers' board, whatever the statute's name suggests. Ley Núm. 173-1988 creates one statutory board named for engineers, architects, surveyors and landscape architects, and that four-profession name is the one most sources repeat — but the Department of State administers two boards under it. Architects and landscape architects answer to the Junta Examinadora de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas, whose Reglamento Núm. 7717 was approved 29 June 2009 and carries its own seal article. Reglamento Núm. 9274, the 2021 regulation usually quoted for Puerto Rico seals, belongs to the Junta Examinadora de Ingenieros y Agrimensores, and its Art. XIII does not govern architects; the two regulations do not prescribe the same seal contents. (Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B); Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B); Ley Núm. 173-1988, Arts. 1, 3(a) (20 L.P.R.A. §§ 711, 711a))
What word names the profession on a Puerto Rico architect's seal?▾
The rule quotes it, and it is a single Spanish word: "Arquitecto", or "Arquitecto Paisajista" for a landscape architect. It is not "Registered Architect" and not "Licensed Architect", and because the same sentence provides that the seal shall contain no other information, no content, no emblem and no coat of arms, there is no room on the face to add an English rendering beside it. One loose end is worth knowing: Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 lists the holder's licensed condition among the elements of a seal, and Art. 3 defines the term for this profession as "Arquitecto licenciado", but the regulation's own element list does not repeat that element. (Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B); Ley Núm. 173-1988, Arts. 3, 16 (20 L.P.R.A. §§ 711a, 711k))
Can an architect in training use a seal in Puerto Rico?▾
No, and the prohibition is flat. Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B) closes with "Ningún profesional en entrenamiento podrá utilizar sello alguno" — no professional in training may use any seal at all. There is no restricted, supervised or provisional form of the device: the seal carries the licensee's own name, the serial number of the license and the license expiration date, and using a professional seal that does not conform to the regulation is itself a prohibited practice under Art. V(G)(14). (Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B); Art. V(G)(14))
Is an electronic seal allowed for a Puerto Rico architect?▾
The architects' regulation does not say, which is the problem. Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 requires the professional to sign the document in his or her own handwriting in addition to sealing it, and leaves it to the Board to determine the ways in which cybernetic or digitized signatures and seals will be accepted. The engineers' and surveyors' board did exactly that in Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(7), which permits a computer-generated seal with an electronically generated signature only where the professional also signs manually beside or over the seal with the date of that manual signature written beneath it. Reglamento Núm. 7717, in force since 2009, has no counterpart provision, so an architect is left with the statute's handwritten-signature requirement and no rule authorizing an electronic substitute. (Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 (20 L.P.R.A. § 711k); Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B); cf. Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(7))
Who seals each sheet of a Puerto Rico architectural plan set?▾
Everyone who worked on the sheet. Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 requires that on the presentation of plans each individual sheet be sealed and signed by the professional or professionals who took part in preparing it; and where the services are rendered through a professional partnership or corporation, each sheet is sealed and signed by the professionals who took part and, in addition, the person responsible for the matter signs and seals the first page or title page. Sealing the cover sheet alone does not satisfy the statute, and the responsible professional's seal on the title page is an added step rather than a substitute for the sheets. (Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 (20 L.P.R.A. § 711k))