Louisiana requires every licensed professional geoscientist to obtain an official seal and to place it, unobscured, on the originals that make up the final version of a geoscience document, together with an original signature and the date of signing. The Board issues the seal design once you are licensed. No size is published. This page covers the design, signing, drafts, electronic transmission and ordering.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against LAC 46:LXII § 1501 and the Louisiana Board of Professional Geoscientists. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes. Each professional geoscientist obtains an official seal upon licensure. | LAC 46:LXII § 1501 |
| Face and wording | Set by the approved design the Board issues after licensure. The rule governs use and prints no list of words. | Louisiana Board of Professional Geoscientists, seal guidance (Board approved seal design issued on licensure) |
| Dimensions | No diameter, shape or proportion is given. | LAC 46:LXII § 1501 (silent on dimensions) |
| Device type | No embosser, rubber stamp or computer generated seal is named. | LAC 46:LXII § 1501 |
| Condition of the impression | Unobscured, so nothing may cover it. | LAC 46:LXII § 1501 |
| Signature and date | An original signature and the date you signed go with every seal. | LAC 46:LXII § 1501 |
| Documents covered | Originals in the final version of any geoscience document, a term that takes in reports, maps, cross sections, charts, graphs, drawings, descriptions and other records. | LAC 46:LXII § 1501 |
| Drafts | No stamp needed, but each sheet or page carries a clear, prominent preliminary or draft label. | LAC 46:LXII § 1501 |
| Electronic transmission | Allowed if the seal, signature and date travel in a secure mode that prevents them being produced or modified. No standard or vendor is named. | LAC 46:LXII § 1501 |
| Lapse and renewal | The seal section is silent. Renewal sits in the practice act. | La. R.S. 37:711.1 through 711.24 |
What does Louisiana require of a geoscientist's seal?
An official seal, obtained when your license issues, and a set way of using it. Under LAC 46:LXII § 1501 the seal goes on the final originals of each geoscience document, unobscured, alongside your original signature and the date you signed.
The credential Louisiana issues is professional geoscientist, under the Louisiana Professional Geoscience Practice Act, La. R.S. 37:711.1 through 711.24. That is the title this page means when it speaks of a Louisiana geologist seal.
Section 1501 also holds you personally and professionally answerable for keeping the seal, your signature and your identification under your own control, and for how each is used. For the way other states answer the same questions, see our geologist seal rules for all 54 jurisdictions.
Where does the wording for the seal come from?
From the Board, through its approved design. The Louisiana Board of Professional Geoscientists issues that design once you are licensed, and § 1501 prints no legend and no element list, so the design, not the rule text, fixes the face.
Build the seal from the artwork the Board gives you rather than from another state's template or a colleague's stamp. Other Louisiana credentials have faces set by their own rules, as our page on what a Louisiana architect seal must show illustrates, and none of those faces carries over to geoscience work.
How big should the seal be?
No dimension is published. Section 1501 and the Board's seal guidance are both silent on diameter, shape and proportion, which leaves the physical layout to the approved design the Board issues after licensure.
In practice, size the device so every line of the Board's artwork reads clearly on a report page, and leave margin around it. A seal squeezed into a crowded title block is harder to keep unobscured.
Which device can carry the seal?
The rule does not choose one. Section 1501 speaks only of affixing an official seal and names no embosser, no rubber stamp and no computer generated seal, so the device is your decision.
The section does allow sealed documents to be transmitted electronically, which assumes the seal can exist in electronic form. Whatever you use, the impression must stay unobscured and sit with your original signature and the signing date. A notary seal is a separate device under separate rules; if you also hold a commission, see our guide to Louisiana notary seal rules.
What does unobscured mean on a finished sheet?
It means nothing sits on top of the impression. Because § 1501 uses that word, anything laid over the seal, whether a note, a table border, another stamp or your own signature, works against the rule's text.
Plan each sheet with a clear box for the seal before placing text and linework. On reports, reserve that space on the signature page so later edits cannot drift across it.
What must accompany the seal on each final original?
Your original signature and the date you signed. Section 1501 lists the unobscured seal, your original signature and the date of signature as one requirement, so all three appear together on each final original you issue.
The rule states no requirement to sign across the impression, and because the seal must stay unobscured, signing beside it is the reading that fits the text. Other Louisiana professions answer the signature question under their own rules; for one example, see our page on sealing over the signature in Louisiana landscape architecture.
Which documents need the seal?
The originals in the final version of any geoscience document. The rule defines that term broadly: reports, maps, cross sections, charts, graphs, drawings, descriptions and other records of geoscientific practice all fall inside it.
A final report, its maps and its cross sections each sit within that list. The trigger is the final version, which is why drafts get separate treatment.
How must drafts and preliminary documents be marked?
They need no seal, but they must announce what they are. Section 1501 excuses preliminary and draft documents from the stamp and in return requires a clear, prominent preliminary or draft label on each sheet or page.
The label runs page by page. One notice on a cover sheet does not reach the pages behind it, so set the marking in your template's header or footer and let it repeat.
Can sealed geoscience documents be sent electronically?
Yes, on one condition. Section 1501 lets a document that requires a seal travel electronically if the seal, signature and date are sent in a secure mode that prevents them from being produced or modified.
The rule names no certificate authority, no cryptographic standard and no approved vendor, so choosing a secure method falls to you. It also prescribes no substitute wording for an uncertified transmission. LAPELS, which regulates engineers and land surveyors, does require such wording at LAC 46:LXI § 2701.A.5; see our pages on Louisiana PE stamp sizes, wording and electronic transmission and on the Louisiana land surveyor seal sizes.
Does the seal rule cover an expired or suspended license?
No. Section 1501 says nothing about expiry, suspension or revocation. It also leaves open whether reinstatement brings a new license number and whether the device must be handed back.
Renewal and discipline run under La. R.S. 37:711.1 through 711.24. Since § 1501 keeps the seal's care, custody and use with you personally, keep the device secured whatever the license status.
What should you have ready before ordering?
The Board's approved design comes first. Without it there is no wording or layout to build from, because neither the rule nor the Board publishes a legend or a diameter you could work to.
Then decide how the seal will reach your documents: an inked impression on paper originals, an electronic version for secure transmission, or both. Test each form on a sample sheet, confirm nothing overlaps it, and check that your signature and the date have their own space beside it.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a firm seal for Louisiana geoscience companies?
Section 1501 treats the seal as the individual licensee's and says nothing about a firm seal, firm name or firm number. Do not reason from the engineering rule: LAPELS bars firms from possessing or using seals at LAC 46:LXI § 2701.A.1, but that provision belongs to a different board.
Will my seal from another state work in Louisiana?
Not as § 1501 is written. The rule calls for an official seal obtained upon Louisiana licensure, and the Board supplies the approved design, so a device made to another state's rules is a different seal.
Is the date the day the work was finished?
No. The rule speaks of the date of signature, so the date records when you signed the original, not when fieldwork or drafting ended.
Who answers for misuse of my seal?
You do. Section 1501 makes you personally accountable for how the seal, your professional signature and your identification are kept and used, so store the device where only you can reach it.
Does a draft need my signature and date?
The seal, signature and date requirement attaches to the originals in the final version. For drafts, the rule's demand is the preliminary or draft label on every sheet or page.
Once the Board has issued your approved design, order a seal built to it from our Louisiana stamps and seals collection.
