A Puerto Rico landscape architect seal is a circle exactly two inches across showing your name, the title Arquitecto Paisajista, your license's serial number, the words Puerto Rico and the date your license expires. Reglamento Núm. 7717 bars any other text, emblem or shield on the face. Ley Núm. 173 requires you to sign by hand. This page covers contents, size, devices, signing, lapse, firms and ordering.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII and the Junta Examinadora de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas de Puerto Rico. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes. Each professional the Junta licenses keeps a seal of a special design it authorizes and stamps work with it where required. | Ley Núm. 173 de 1988, Art. 16 |
| Items on the face | Your name, Arquitecto Paisajista, your license serial number, Puerto Rico, and your expiration date. | Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII |
| Extra text or emblems | Barred. The seal may hold no other information, content, emblem or shield. | Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII |
| Diameter and shape | A circle, two inches in diameter. One fixed size, not a range. | Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII |
| Device type | None named. The article neither permits nor forbids an inked stamp or an embosser. | Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII |
| Signature | Handwritten by you. No date beside it is required. | Ley Núm. 173 de 1988, Art. 16 |
| Documents | Any graphic or written professional work you make or authorize, whether public or private. | Ley Núm. 173 de 1988, Art. 16 |
| Digital or electronic seal | The Act leaves acceptance to the Junta. No Junta determination could be confirmed. | Ley Núm. 173 de 1988, Art. 16 |
| Suspension, inactivity or expiration | No signing or stamping in any of the three. | Ley Núm. 173 de 1988, Art. 16 |
| Firms | No certificate of authorization. Practice depends on active Colegio membership, and individuals seal and sign. | Ley Núm. 173 de 1988, Arts. 2, 16 |
For the same rule in the other 53 jurisdictions, read landscape architect seal requirements by state.
What five items must the seal show?
Reglamento Núm. 7717, Art. XIII sets the list: your own name, your profession written as Arquitecto Paisajista, the serial number of your license, the words Puerto Rico, and the date your license expires. Nothing may be added.
The article closes by barring any other information, content, emblem or shield, which turns the five items into a complete list rather than a starting point. The profession line stays in Spanish, exactly as Arquitecto Paisajista.
What size and shape does Reglamento Núm. 7717 set?
A circle two inches in diameter. Art. XIII gives a single figure for the licensed professional's seal, so the rule describes one size rather than a minimum or a range. Architects and landscape architects are held to the same dimension.
Because the figure is exact, a seal noticeably larger or smaller than two inches does not match Art. XIII. Confirm the diameter when you order and again on the first impression.
Which devices satisfy the rule?
Art. XIII does not name a device. It fixes the size and the contents and goes no further, so its text neither permits nor forbids an inked stamp or an embosser, and it is silent on electronic images.
Whichever device you pick, the impression still has to show all five items on a two inch circle, and Art. 16 of Ley Núm. 173 still requires your handwritten signature on each sealed sheet.
Why does the seal show an expiration date?
Because Art. XIII lists the expiration date as one of the five required items. The seal records when your license runs out, so once you renew, a seal showing the earlier date no longer matches your license.
In practice, each renewal calls for a new seal that shows the new date. Keep the old one out of use so that a superseded date never reaches a current drawing set.
How do you sign a sealed sheet?
In your own handwriting. Art. 16 of Ley Núm. 173 calls for a signature con su puño y letra, and sealing plus signing certifies that the work was done by you or under your control and supervision.
Plans are sealed and signed sheet by sheet. The article does not ask for a date next to your signature. The only date these rules place on the sheet is the expiration date inside the seal.
What work must carry the seal?
All professional work you make or authorize, graphic or written, prepared for the Government or for private clients. Art. 16 names specifications, surveys, reports, designs and plans, and extends the duty to analogous documents.
The duty follows your professional output, not a permit application. A plan prepared for a private owner is covered just as fully as a set prepared for a public agency.
Can you seal electronically?
No rule allowing it could be verified. Art. 16 of Ley Núm. 173 hands the Junta the decision on how digitized or cyber seals and signatures will be accepted. Art. XIII of Reglamento Núm. 7717 sets no electronic standard.
Whether the Junta has issued that decision was not confirmed. The Act's separate demand for a signature in your own hand also has to be squared with any electronic process before you rely on one.
Can you seal while suspended, inactive or expired?
No. Art. 16 of Ley Núm. 173 prohibits signing or stamping in each of those three conditions. Because your seal prints its own expiration date, a lapsed license shows on every sheet you stamp.
Inactive status counts as much as discipline does. A license you have placed on inactive status stops you from sealing just as a suspension would.
Why does this seal follow the architect rules?
Because one seal article covers both professions. The 1988 Act, Ley Núm. 173, first set up a single Junta to examine engineers, architects, agrimensores and landscape architects, and Art. XIII of Reglamento Núm. 7717 names architects and landscape architects together.
The professions have since divided between two Juntas and two compulsory colleges. Landscape architects stayed with architects at the Junta Examinadora de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas, while engineers and agrimensores have their own Junta. Art. 16 of the Act still governs all four, and within your Junta, Art. XIII treats architects and landscape architects alike, so your seal differs from an architect's only in the profession line. Compare our Puerto Rico architect seal rules.
For the other Junta's professions, see our guide to ordering the right Puerto Rico engineering seal and our page on Puerto Rico land surveyor seals. Notaries fall outside Ley Núm. 173 altogether; their device is covered in our Puerto Rico notary seal guide.
How does a firm seal its work?
Through its licensed individuals. Puerto Rico has no certificate of authorization and no firm seal. In a partnership or corporation, participating professionals seal and sign their own work, and the responsible professional signs and seals the first page.
Practice itself rests on Art. 2 of Ley Núm. 173, which requires active membership in the Colegio de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas de Puerto Rico. That membership is compulsory, not a voluntary society affiliation.
What should you supply when ordering?
Your own name, the profession line Arquitecto Paisajista, your license serial number, the words Puerto Rico and your current expiration date, all on a round seal two inches across. Ask for nothing else on the face.
When the seal arrives, stamp a test sheet and measure the impression. Then read each item against your license, giving the expiration date the closest look, since it changes with every renewal.
Frequently asked questions
Can a landscape architect in training use a seal?
No. Under the Puerto Rico seal rules, a professional in training may not use a seal of any kind. The seal belongs to the licensed arquitecto paisajista.
Does the seal have to be in Spanish?
The profession line does, since Art. XIII gives it as Arquitecto Paisajista, and the words Puerto Rico are fixed. The remaining items are your own name, your license serial number and your expiration date.
Can the seal show my firm name or the Colegio emblem?
No. Art. XIII forbids any information, content, emblem or shield beyond the five listed items. A firm name, a Colegio emblem and a registration number from another body all fall outside that list.
Why is the Commonwealth shield not allowed?
It falls under the ban on emblems and shields. The shield sits at the center of the Junta's own official seal, which Art. XIII describes separately and which is not the device a practitioner uses.
Do I keep the same license serial number after renewal?
The rules read for this page do not say, and they are equally silent on whether a superseded seal must be surrendered or destroyed. What they do settle is that the seal shows your expiration date, which moves with each renewal.
Which board licenses landscape architects in Puerto Rico?
The Junta Examinadora de Arquitectos y Arquitectos Paisajistas de Puerto Rico, part of the Departamento de Estado. It is a separate body from the Junta that licenses engineers and agrimensores.
Once your license details are in front of you, order from our Puerto Rico stamps and seals collection, specifying the two inch Arquitecto Paisajista layout and your current expiration date.
