Kentucky · Engineer seal requirements
Kentucky PE seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Kentucky sets the seal legend by statute: KRS 322.340(1) requires a licensee's seal or stamp to bear his or her name, license number, and the words "Licensed Professional Engineer" or "Licensed Professional Land Surveyor" — the word "Licensed" is part of the legend, not an optional prefix. 201 KAR 18:104 § 5 leaves the design to "Approved Stamps and Seals", 1999, which the Board publishes only at its Frankfort office, but the Board states the dimensions on its own site: 1⅜ to 1⅝ inches for the engineering seal or stamp and 1¼ to 1½ inches for the surveying seal or stamp, and its sample surveyor stamp is square rather than circular. Architects answer to the Kentucky Board of Architects instead, and 201 KAR 19:265 § 1 prescribes their seal exactly — two concentric circles, the outer 1 9/16 inches and the inner 1 inch, with the registrant's name over the word "Architect" in the annulus and "Registered" / "No." / the certificate number over "Commonwealth of Kentucky" inside. A digital signature may stand in for an engineer's or surveyor's original seal, signature and date under 201 KAR 18:104 § 3 if the signature is verifiable, exclusively controlled, invalidated by any change to the file, and the document is converted to read-only.
The design of the Kentucky engineer's and land surveyor's seal is not printed in the code. 201 KAR 18:104 § 5 says only that stamps and seals "shall be similar in design and conform to the size restrictions established in Approved Stamps and Seals, 1999," and § 6 incorporates that document by reference, inspectable or obtainable only at the Board's office at 160 Democrat Drive, Frankfort. It is not published online. Everything stated here about the engineer's and surveyor's seal layout therefore comes from the statutory legend in KRS 322.340(1) and from the two sample seals the Board itself publishes on its Approved Stamps and Seals page, not from the incorporated document. The Board's legal name in KRS 322.230 is the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors; 201 KAR 18:104 § 6(2) calls it the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, its own site opens with "Kentucky State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors", and the site header brands it "Kentucky Board of Engineers & Land Surveyors" — three renderings of one board. Both seal regulations are stable: neither 201 KAR 18:104 nor 201 KAR 19:265 has a proposed version pending, though 201 KAR 18:104 carries a seven-year expiration date of February 14, 2027 and will lapse then unless the Board recertifies or amends it. 201 KAR 18:150 does have an amendment pending under 2025 RS HB 6; it leaves § 11(1) untouched and changes § 11(2) only by adding the height of sixteen point type in inches. Architects are a separate matter: 201 KAR 19:265 prescribes the architect's seal in full but contains no electronic or digital seal provision, and although KRS 323.095(2) and KRS 323.210(5) empower the Kentucky Board of Architects to adopt one, no regulation in 201 KAR ch. 19 does so as of August 2026 — so Kentucky architects, unlike Kentucky engineers and surveyors, have no published rule authorizing a digital seal.
Kentucky Engineer seal
- Legend
- “Licensed Professional Engineer”
- Diameter
- The Board states a minimum of 1⅜ inches and a maximum of 1⅝ inches for the engineering seal or stamp. The regulation itself sets no figure; it defers to "Approved Stamps and Seals", 1999, which is available only at the Board's office.
- Expiration date
- The statute fixes the seal's contents as the name, the license number and the words "Licensed Professional Engineer", and the regulation adds nothing. Affixing the seal after a license expires is separately unlawful.(KRS 322.340(1); 201 KAR 18:104; KRS 322.340(6)(a))
- Signature date
- The seal or stamp, the signature and the date together certify the document, and at least one copy given to a client or public body must bear the original seal, original signature and date.(KRS 322.340(3); 201 KAR 18:104 § 2(1))
- City on seal
- The statutory list is name, license number and legend; the board's published sample seal shows no place of business.(KRS 322.340(1); 201 KAR 18:104 § 5)
- Each professional engineer shall, upon licensure, obtain a seal or stamp of the design authorized by the board, bearing his or her name, license number, and the words "Licensed Professional Engineer".(KRS 322.340(1))
- The Board's published sample engineer seal is circular: "STATE OF KENTUCKY" runs along the top of the outer band and "PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER" along the bottom, and the inner circle carries the licensee's name, the license number and the word "LICENSED".(Board, Approved Stamps and Seals (Professional Engineer Sample Seal))
- The seal or stamp, the signature and the date shall be used to provide certification for all reports, specifications, drawings and plans presented to a client or any public or governmental agency.(KRS 322.340(3))
- If a document will be presented to a client or to a public or governmental entity, at least one copy shall bear the licensee's original seal or stamp, original signature and date. Any other copy may contain a facsimile applied manually by stamps or by a computer and printer or plotter.(201 KAR 18:104 § 2(1), (2))
- A digital signature is permitted in place of an original seal, signature and date if it uniquely identifies the licensee, is verifiable, is under the licensee's direct and exclusive control, is linked to the electronic document so that later changes are easily determined and visually displayed, is removed or significantly altered by any attempt to change the document, and the document is converted to a read-only format for electronic transmission.(201 KAR 18:104 § 3)
- An electronic document transmitted without a digital signature shall carry, in place of an image of the seal or stamp, signature and date, the words "This shall not be considered a certified document." That language is not required for documents sent to a commercial printer or blueprint service for reproduction, or to the licensee's employer or employees.(201 KAR 18:104 § 4(1), (2))
- The seal or stamp and signature shall be used only if the work being stamped was under the licensee's complete direction and control.(KRS 322.340(4))
- It shall be unlawful for a licensee to affix, or permit to be affixed, his or her seal, stamp or signature to any document described in KRS 322.340(3) or (5) after the expiration of a license, or for the purpose of aiding or abetting any other person to evade any provision of KRS Chapter 322.(KRS 322.340(6)(a), (b))
Kentucky engineer seal questions
Must a Kentucky PE seal include the word "Licensed"?▾
The word "Licensed" belongs on the seal. KRS 322.340(1) fixes the legend as "Licensed Professional Engineer" or "Licensed Professional Land Surveyor", so a seal reading only "Professional Engineer", or "P.E.", does not carry the statutory wording. On the Board's own sample engineer seal the word sits inside the inner circle while "PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER" runs around the outer band, but it is there. (KRS 322.340(1); Board, Approved Stamps and Seals)
Are Kentucky engineer and land surveyor seals the same size?▾
Engineers and land surveyors do not share a seal size, and the Board's sample surveyor stamp is not even round. The engineering seal or stamp runs 1⅜ to 1⅝ inches and the surveying seal or stamp 1¼ to 1½ inches, and the published surveyor sample is a square stamp with a hatched border. One geometry reused for both professions will fall outside at least one of the Board's stated ranges. (Board, Approved Stamps and Seals; 201 KAR 18:104 § 5)
Should a Kentucky engineer seal say "Commonwealth of Kentucky"?▾
"Commonwealth of Kentucky" is the architect's wording, not the engineer's. It appears in the inner circle of the architect's seal under 201 KAR 19:265 § 1(1)(d)2, while the Board's sample engineer seal reads "STATE OF KENTUCKY" and its sample surveyor stamp reads "STATE of KENTUCKY". KRS 322.340(1) itself requires no state name on either — only the name, the license number and the statutory words. (201 KAR 19:265 § 1(1)(d)2; KRS 322.340(1))
Does a license expiration date go on a Kentucky engineer or surveyor seal?▾
No license expiration date goes on or beside a Kentucky engineer's or surveyor's seal. Neither KRS 322.340 nor 201 KAR 18:104 asks for one — but affixing the seal, stamp or signature after the license has expired is separately unlawful. (KRS 322.340(6)(a))
Is a seal image pasted into an editable file valid in Kentucky?▾
A digital signature only replaces the original seal, signature and date if the electronic document is converted to a read-only format and any attempt to alter it invalidates the signature. A seal image pasted into a file that remains editable does not satisfy 201 KAR 18:104 § 3. (201 KAR 18:104 § 3(4), (5), (6))
Generate a Kentucky Engineer seal to this specification
Board approved
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