A Pennsylvania landscape architect's seal must carry the legend Registered Landscape Architect, your registration number, your name as registered, and a reference to Pennsylvania. A metal seal, a rubber stamp and a digital seal are all acceptable. Section 15.33(e) limits sealing and signing to three methods, and a printed facsimile signature is not one. This page covers the contents, the methods and the silences.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against 49 Pa. Code § 15.33(c). Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | The sealing duty runs wider here than in the engineering and architecture chapters, and deliberately so. | 49 Pa. Code § 15.33(a) |
| Legend | Registered Landscape Architect. | 49 Pa. Code § 15.33(c) |
| Name | Your name as registered. | 49 Pa. Code § 15.33(c) |
| Registration number | Your registration number appears on the seal. | 49 Pa. Code § 15.33(c) |
| Reference to Pennsylvania | Required on the face. | 49 Pa. Code § 15.33(c) |
| Devices allowed | Metal seal, rubber stamp or digital seal. | 49 Pa. Code § 15.33(c) |
| Diameter | Not addressed. The chapter fixes the legend, fixes the contents and prints a sample seal, yet states no diameter at all. | 49 Pa. Code ch. 15 (silent on diameter) |
| Shape | Not stated. | Not addressed in the cited rules |
| Sealing and signing methods | Three only: a physically placed seal with a handwritten signature in permanent ink, a digitally placed seal with that handwritten signature, or a digitally placed seal with a digital signature. Each signature carries the registrant's name. | 49 Pa. Code § 15.33(e) |
| Sealing after a lapse | Not addressed. Registration itself runs on a biennial cycle, with the biennial fee set in the fee section. | 49 Pa. Code §§ 15.12, 15.34 |
To compare Pennsylvania with every other jurisdiction, see our table of landscape architect seal requirements by state.
What must a Pennsylvania landscape architect seal show?
Four items under section 15.33(c): the legend Registered Landscape Architect, a reference to Pennsylvania, your name as registered, and your registration number.
The legend is the part to get exactly right, because it is the wording the chapter prescribes rather than a description you can adapt. Landscape Architect on its own, without the word Registered, is not the legend the rule states. Our fuller read of the stamp and seal requirements for Pennsylvania landscape architects lays the four items out as artwork.
Which devices may carry the seal?
A metal seal, a rubber stamp or a digital seal. Section 15.33(c) names all three, so an embossed impression, an inked impression and a digitally placed image stand on equal footing.
The device you pick then interacts with the signing rule, because two of the three permitted methods start from a digitally placed seal. If most of your work leaves the office as a PDF, a digital seal is the practical choice; if you issue signed originals, a metal seal or a rubber stamp keeps the process simple.
How large should the seal be?
The chapter states no diameter. It fixes the legend, fixes the contents and prints a sample seal. Searching the whole chapter for the word diameter returns nothing.
So there is no dimension to comply with and none to breach. Size the seal so the legend, your name, your number and the reference to Pennsylvania all print cleanly on the drawings and reports you issue. We go into the practical sizes in seal size and dimensions for Pennsylvania landscape architects.
Which sealing and signing methods does the rule permit?
Three, and section 15.33(e) is written as a closed list. You may place the seal physically and sign by hand in permanent ink; place the seal digitally and sign by hand in permanent ink; or place the seal digitally and sign with a digital signature. Each signature contains your name.
Read the combinations carefully, because a physically placed seal pairs with a handwritten signature only. The rule does not offer a physical seal with a digital signature.
Why is a printed signature not acceptable?
Because it is not among the three methods. A printed facsimile of a handwritten signature, the kind that lives in a title block template and prints with every sheet, does not appear in section 15.33(e) at all.
That rules out a common office shortcut. If your drawings carry a scanned signature image, replace it with a handwritten signature in permanent ink or with a digital signature, and pair it with the matching seal placement.
Which documents must be sealed?
Section 15.33(a) carries the sealing duty, and it is wider than the equivalent provisions in the engineering and architecture chapters, deliberately so. Section 15.33(e) describes the work product in the same breath as drawings, reports, documents and other work product.
The width is the point for a landscape architecture practice. A report or a written document that would sit outside an engineering sealing rule can sit inside this one, so the safer assumption is that a final professional product carries your seal. Our article on the Pennsylvania stamp and seal regulations in full works through the categories.
How does a digital seal work in Pennsylvania?
Section 15.33a, headed Digital signature and seal, carries the same four part test that the other two Pennsylvania boards apply, with section 15.32a sitting alongside it.
Consistency across the three boards is useful if you work in a multidisciplinary office, because the digital signing workflow you set up for engineers or architects rests on the same four conditions. Confirm your signing product satisfies each of them before a sealed file goes out for approval.
What does renewal mean for your seal?
Registration runs on a biennial cycle under section 15.34, with the biennial registration fee set out in section 15.12. Chapter 15 does not separately address sealing after a lapse.
That silence is worth naming rather than papering over. The chapter states no dedicated prohibition on using the seal once registration is down, and the sensible reading is that the seal represents a current registration, so keep the renewal current and the device in step with it.
What should you supply when ordering?
Your name as registered, your registration number, and the device you want. The legend and the reference to Pennsylvania are fixed by the rule rather than chosen by you.
If you are ordering a digital seal alongside a physical one, keep the artwork identical across both so that a reviewer comparing a PDF with a paper original sees the same face. You can see the formats we produce on our page of Pennsylvania landscape architect seal products.
How do you check the seal before you use it?
Read the legend word for word against section 15.33(c), confirm the registration number against your registration record, and press or print a test on the media you deliver.
Then test the signing method rather than only the seal. Place the seal the way you intend to use it, add the signature in the matching form, and look at the result as the recipient will receive it.
Frequently asked questions
Can you place a seal physically and sign digitally?
No. Section 15.33(e) pairs a physically placed seal with a handwritten signature in permanent ink. A digital signature appears only in the combination that also places the seal digitally.
Is a minimum size set anywhere in chapter 15?
No. The chapter prints a sample seal and prescribes its contents, and the word diameter does not appear in it at all.
Does the legend have to read Registered Landscape Architect in full?
That is the legend the rule states, so reproduce it in full. A shortened variation drops wording the chapter requires.
How should the seal refer to Pennsylvania?
Section 15.33(c) requires a reference to Pennsylvania without prescribing a form of words for it, which is why the sample printed in the chapter is the best available model.
Does a digital seal need separate board approval?
The cited sections set a four part test rather than an approval process. Satisfying the test is what matters, and the same test is used by the other two Pennsylvania boards.
Is a scanned signature ever acceptable on sealed work?
Not under the three methods in section 15.33(e). A handwritten signature in permanent ink or a digital signature is what the rule contemplates alongside the seal.
Once the legend, your name and your registration number are confirmed, send the artwork to production. Browse the Pennsylvania seals and stamps we make for landscape architects and supply your registration details as the board records them.
