Puerto Rico · Engineer seal requirements
Puerto Rico PE seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 (20 L.P.R.A. § 711k) fixes what a Puerto Rico seal contains — the professional's own name, the profession practiced, the licensed condition of the holder, the license number and the inscription "Puerto Rico" — but prescribes no diameter, leaving the design to the board that authorizes it. The diameter comes from the regulations, and both boards set the same figure: Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(1) gives engineers and land surveyors a circular seal of two inches in diameter, and Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(B) gives architects a circular seal of two (2) inches reading "Arquitecto" or "Arquitecto Paisajista" and carrying the license expiration date, with nothing else on it. The statute additionally requires the professional to sign the document in his or her own handwriting, and requires each individual sheet of a set of plans to be sealed and signed by whoever took part in preparing it. Engineers and land surveyors answer to one examining board and architects to another, and the operative text of all three provisions is Spanish.
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 Engineer seal
- Legend
- “Ingeniero Licenciado”
- Diameter
- Circular, two inches in diameter. The statute prescribes no diameter and leaves the design to the Board; the two-inch figure comes from the Board's own regulation.
- Expiration date
- The seal shows the name, the profession practiced, the license serial number and "Puerto Rico"; the statute adds the licensed condition. Only the architects' board requires an expiration date on the seal.(Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(1); Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16 (20 L.P.R.A. § 711k))
- Signature date
- A computer-generated seal may be used only if the professional also signs manually beside or over it, with the date of that manual signature written beneath the seal. Ley 173, Art. 16 requires the handwritten signature but states no date for a wet seal.(Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(7))
- City on seal
- The element list is closed to name, profession, license number and "Puerto Rico" — no place of business.(Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(1); Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16)
- The seal is a circular stamp two inches in diameter showing the name of the professional, the profession practiced, the serial number of the license and the inscription "Puerto Rico".(Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(1))
- The statute adds one element the regulation's list leaves out — the licensed condition of the holder. The term Ley Núm. 173-1988 uses for the holder is "Ingeniero Licenciado", so the profession line states both the profession and that the person named is licensed.(Ley Núm. 173-1988, Arts. 3(e), 16 (20 L.P.R.A. §§ 711a, 711k))
- The professional shall in addition sign the document in his or her own handwriting. Sealing and signing certifies that the work was done by that professional or under his or her control and technical-phase supervision.(Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16)
- On a set of plans each individual sheet must be sealed and signed by the professional or professionals who took part in preparing it; where services are rendered through a professional partnership or corporation, the person responsible for the matter also signs and seals the first page or title page.(Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16; Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(4))
- Seal and signature go on specifications, reports, drawings, plans, design data and engineering computations when those documents are given to a client or to a public agency. Working documents may be left unsealed, but must be clearly marked "DOCUMENTOS PRELIMINARES, NO PARA CONSTRUCCIÓN, CERTIFICACIÓN O IMPLEMENTACIÓN".(Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(2))
- Signature and seal shall be placed only on work done under the complete direction and control of the professional.(Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(5))
- A computer-generated seal with an electronically generated signature may be used only if the professional also signs manually beside or over the seal, with the date of that manual signature written beneath it.(Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(7))
- Signing or stamping any document with the seal during a term of suspension or inactivity of a license, or after its expiration or permanent cancellation, is illegal; for all legal purposes the seal is a public seal authorized by the statute.(Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16)
Puerto Rico engineer seal questions
Does a Puerto Rico seal say "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico"?▾
The inscription the rules prescribe is "Puerto Rico". "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" is not it, and neither is "Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico" — those last words belong to the official seal of the Board itself, not to the seal of a licensee. (Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(A), (B)(1); Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII(A), (B); Ley Núm. 173-1988, Art. 16)
Can a Puerto Rico engineer seal say "P.E." or "Professional Engineer"?▾
The seal names "la profesión que ejerce", and the titles Ley Núm. 173-1988 defines are Spanish — "Ingeniero Licenciado", "Agrimensor Licenciado", "Arquitecto", "Arquitecto Paisajista". No provision prescribes "P.E.", "P.L.S." or "Professional Engineer"; "P.E. #" and "P.S. #" appear in Reglamento Núm. 9274 only inside the notice that replaces the seal on an electronically transmitted document that does not require certification. (Ley Núm. 173-1988, Arts. 3, 16; Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(1), (7))
Do Puerto Rico engineering plans need a Colegio estampilla as well as the seal?▾
A sealed and signed document is still not a valid submittal. A licensed engineer or surveyor affixes a Colegio estampilla — physical or digital, or both — worth $5 where the work or service is worth no more than $999, plus $1 for each additional $1,000 or fraction, and no government department, court or other body will approve or treat as valid engineering plans, documents or certifications without it. On a construction plan or document certified before a government agency, the stamp the Colegio de Arquitectos and the Colegio de Ingenieros y Agrimensores adopt and issue jointly, at $1 per $1,000 or fraction of the value of the construction work, takes the place of that estampilla rather than adding to it. (Ley Núm. 319 de 15 de mayo de 1938, § 11, según enmendada por la Ley Núm. 147-2016; Ley Núm. 96 de 6 de julio de 1978, § 10)
Which seal do I use in Puerto Rico under a special temporary permit?▾
A licensee of another jurisdiction working in Puerto Rico under a special temporary permit uses the seal of the home jurisdiction rather than a Puerto Rico seal, and supplies a copy of the permit with it. (Reglamento Núm. 9274, Art. XIII(B)(6))
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