District of Columbia Landscape Architect seal requirements: proper sizing, signing and sealing of documents

District of Columbia Landscape Architect seal

Board

Board of Architecture, Interior Design, and Landscape Architecture

Seal requirements

17 DCMR § 1911

Legend

“District of Columbia, Landscape Architect”

Diameter

No diameter is prescribed. 17 DCMR § 1911.1 enumerates the seal's contents and states no dimension and reproduces no specimen — in contrast with the architects' rule at 17 DCMR § 3413.1, which requires the seal to "comply in all respects, including size and format, with the specimen shown below".

Expiration date

§ 1911.1 lists the seal's contents exhaustively apart from "any other information requested by the Board"; no license expiration date appears among them.(17 DCMR § 1911.1)

Signature date

A date is required where a computer-generated seal is used without a digital signature: the manual signature goes adjacent to or across the seal and the date is written below it. The date is not part of the seal face.(17 DCMR § 1911.6)

City on seal

The only place designation the rule calls for is "District of Columbia" itself; no city or place of business is required.(17 DCMR § 1911.1)

• "Each licensed landscape architect shall procure a seal, which shall contain the following information: (a) District of Columbia; (b) Licensee's name; (c) License number; (d) The words "Landscape Architect"; and (e) Any other information requested by the Board."(17 DCMR § 1911.1)
• "The seal shall be evidence of the authenticity of a document and shall be imprinted on all technical submissions, as follows: Each design and each drawing; On the cover and index pages identifying each set of specifications; and On the cover page (and index, if applicable) of all other technical submissions."(17 DCMR § 1911.2)
• "The seal appearing on any technical submission shall be prima facie evidence that the technical submission was prepared by or under the responsible charge of the named licensee appearing on the seal."(17 DCMR § 1911.3)
• No licensed landscape architect shall affix or permit to be affixed his or her seal or signature to any technical submission which depicts work he or she is not competent to perform, or to any submission not prepared by him or her or under his or her responsible charge; a licensee may sign or seal work prepared by another licensed landscape architect if he or she has reviewed, approved, or modified and adopted the work under his or her responsible charge.(17 DCMR §§ 1911.4, 1911.5; see also 17 DCMR § 1910.10)
• "Computer-generated seals not signed with a digital signature may be used to authenticate technical submissions provided a manual signature is placed adjacent to or across the seal and the date is written below it." Technical submissions that do not require certification may be transmitted electronically but must have the generated seal removed and the following inserted in lieu of the signature and date: "This document was originally issued and sealed by (name of licensee), L.A.#_______ on (date of sealing). This document should not be considered a certified document."(17 DCMR § 1911.6)
• Technical submissions signed with a digital signature must contain an authentication procedure with a unique signature, capability to verify the source, sole control by the person using it, and a link to the document such that the signature is invalidated if any data changes; and "a list of the hardware, software, and parameters used to prepare the document(s)."(17 DCMR § 1911.7)
• The seal rule is the only place the District addresses a landscape architect's seal. The D.C. Official Code provisions for the profession — scope of practice, eligibility, and prohibited conduct — were read and contain no seal or stamp provision.(D.C. Official Code §§ 47-2853.116, 47-2853.117, 47-2853.118)

District of Columbia landscape architect seal questions