Oregon · Geologist seal requirements
Oregon Geologist seal requirements: proper sizing, signing and sealing of documents
As of
Oregon registers geologists through its own Board of Geologist Examiners, not the engineering board. ORS 672.605 requires a board-authorised seal bearing the registrant's name and the legend "registered geologist" or "certified specialty geologist", and OAR 809-050-0000 fills in the contents — name, certificate number and registration title — with a minimum size of at least 1.5 inches in diameter from point to point. OAR 809-050-0005 then requires a handwritten signature in permanent ink across the seal and the word "Expires" followed by the registration expiration date written directly below it.
OAR 820-025-0005 was renumbered from OAR 820-010-0620 by BEELS 7-2015; the old number is still widely cited and no longer exists. The "at least 2 inches from point to point" wording came in with BEELS 3-2024, effective September 11, 2024, and replaced an older sentence that allowed a 1/4" tolerance against Exhibit 1. The board's Exhibit 1 handout on its website is dated April 26, 2017 and still reprints that superseded tolerance language. ORS 672.605 uses the phrase "certified specialty geologist" for the specialty legend, while the board's rules and its issued certificates use the specific title "Certified Engineering Geologist" (the only specialty certified under OAR 809-005-0000). OAR Chapter 809 treats "seal" and "stamp" as the same thing. The Oregon State Board of Geologist Examiners remains a separate board from OSBEELS; the two have operated under a memorandum of understanding rather than a merger.
Generate a Oregon Geologist seal to this specification
Board approved
Your Oregon Geologist seal from pedigitalstamps.com meets every requirement on this page — the required wording, the layout and the diameter set out in ORS 672.605; OAR 809-050-0000; OAR 809-050-0005. Fill in your details and download it in seconds.
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Oregon Geologist seal
- Seal requirements
- ORS 672.605; OAR 809-050-0000; OAR 809-050-0005
- Legend (any one)
- “Registered Geologist” · “Certified Engineering Geologist”
- Diameter
- A minimum only. OAR 809-050-0000 requires the seal to be "at least 1.5 inches in diameter from point to point"; ORS 672.605 states no dimension.
- Expiration date
- Oregon is explicit: the word "Expires" followed by the registration expiration date must be written directly below the seal, and an electronic or digital signature must carry the same expiration date immediately preceded by "Expires".(OAR 809-050-0005)
- Signature date
- OAR 809-050-0005 requires a handwritten signature in permanent ink across the seal and the expiration date below it, but prescribes no date of signing; ORS 672.605 requires only that the document be signed and impressed with the seal.(ORS 672.605; OAR 809-050-0005)
- City on seal
- OAR 809-050-0000 lists the seal's contents as the registrant's name, certificate number and registration title; neither it nor ORS 672.605 calls for a city or address.(ORS 672.605; OAR 809-050-0000)
- "Each registrant, upon issuance of a certificate, shall obtain a seal of the design authorized by the State Board of Geologist Examiners, bearing the registrant's name and the legend 'registered geologist' or 'certified specialty geologist.'"(ORS 672.605)
- "All drawings, reports or other geologic papers or documents involving geologic work ... that have been prepared or approved by a registered geologist or a subordinate employee under the direction of a registered geologist for the use of or for delivery to any person or for public record within this state shall be signed by the registered geologist and impressed with the seal ... which shall indicate responsibility for them."(ORS 672.605)
- "A facsimile of a registrant's seal shall be affixed to final products created in the public practice of geology."(OAR 809-050-0000)
- A Registered Geologist shall use a seal bearing the registrant's name, certificate number and registration title, at least 1.5 inches in diameter from point to point; the same requirements apply to a Certified Engineering Geologist. An electronic seal meeting these requirements may be used.(OAR 809-050-0000)
- Draft documents clearly marked as drafts need not be sealed. Individual work products inside a compiled report need not be separately sealed if the sealing registrant prepared them; work products prepared by others must be individually sealed by their preparers, and a stand-alone product such as a boring log must be individually sealed and signed.(OAR 809-050-0000)
- "A registrant who seals and signs a final version of a geology product must be in responsible charge for the geology content of that product."(OAR 809-050-0000)
- "After the registrant's seal has been applied to the original or record copy, the registrant shall place the registrant's handwritten signature in permanent ink across the seal," and shall write the word "Expires" followed by the registration expiration date directly below the seal.(OAR 809-050-0005)
- An electronic or digital signature under ORS 84.001 to 84.064 is permitted if it is unique to the registrant, under the registrant's direct control and verifiable, and includes the registrant's expiration date immediately preceded by the word "Expires". Each displayed or printed copy must bear the seal and signature, and any alteration of the document invalidates the seal.(OAR 809-050-0005)
Oregon geologist seal questions
What do licensees most often get wrong about Oregon seals?▾
Have you written "Expires" and your registration expiration date directly below the seal? Oregon requires that notation on the sealed original, and on electronic or digital signatures as well — the seal alone is incomplete without it. (OAR 809-050-0005) Is the signature across the seal? OAR 809-050-0005 requires the handwritten signature to be placed in permanent ink across the seal on the original or record copy, not merely beside it. (OAR 809-050-0005) Is the size measured point to point? The 1.5 inch figure is a minimum measured from point to point, not a fixed diameter, so a larger seal is permitted but a smaller one is not. (OAR 809-050-0000)