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Do You Know Who is Responsible if Your Seal is Fraudulently Used?
Do You Know Who is Responsible if Your Seal is Fraudulently Used?
More and more, the Colorado Board of Licensure for Architects, Professional Engineers and Professional Land Surveyors (Board) is seeing complaints or actual cases against individuals who have used a licensee’s stamp illegally. This can include copying and using a seal from drawings or project manuals, using the physical seal without authorization, or having a seal fabricated with a licensee's information. So who is responsible for maintaining control of one’s stamp? It is the licensee's responsibility.
Pursuant to Board Rule 1.3(A)(3),
“Licensees shall be personally and professionally responsible and accountable for the care, custody, control and use of their seals”.
This means if a seal is used illegally it is the responsibility of the licensee to demonstrate to the Board that they maintained control of their seal and the use was fraudulent by another individual.
Who has a box of stamps in their office for anyone to have access to? How about your electronic seal saved onto a shared company
drive that unauthorized staff has access to? It is imperative that licensees take adequate precautions to limit the potential for their seals to be used illegally. This means that no one should have unauthorized access to your seal. It is acceptable for you to authorize a seal to be placed on permit documents by another individual, but once you have signed and dated the documents, you must ensure the set is in your control until submitted for permit.
Individual and office policies must be established to ensure protection of the seals. A few suggested precautions to consider in your company or desk policy:
Educate your clients and contractors about the protected use of the seal.
Do not store your seals, physical or electronic, in places where others have access.
A fully executed seal must include the stamp, signature and date.
Consider the use of a secured digital signature.
It is impossible to foresee every situation where a seal could be used fraudulently, but it is possible to minimize the potential. Protect yourself with adequate precautions to minimize the potential of someone using your seal. If you have any questions, please contact the AES Board Program Director as we are here to help you understand the Rules.
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