Rule 180-12-.02 - Sealing of Documents(1) The term, "documents," as used herein shall mean engineering and/or land surveying work issued in the form of plans, drawings, maps, surveys, reports, specifications, design information, and calculations, including such work issued in digital form.(2) The term "issued" as used herein shall mean documents in the final form which bear the seal, signature and date of the registrant and the entity's Certificate of Authorization Name, Authorization Number and Expiration date of the COA (as required by GA Law 43-15-23. Practice of professional engineering by or through firm, corporation, or other entity for COA requirements.)(3) The registrant shall seal, sign and date and provide COA name, Authorization Number and expiration date of the COA all original final documents which are issued to a client or any public agency. The sealing of documents by the registrant shall certify that the work was performed by the registrant or under the direct supervisory control of the registrant on a daily basis. For engineering documents, the date of signature shall be placed immediately under the seal and signature.(4) No registrant shall issue or allow to be issued draft, incomplete, preliminary, in-progress, or for-review document or any type that contains the seal of the registrant unless such document does not contain a signature. Further, any such draft shall display the date of issue and a notation under or adjacent to the seal in bold lettering, such as "PRELIMINARY", "DRAFT", "NOT FOR CONSTRUCTION or "FOR REVIEW ONLY," which clearly identifies the purpose for which the document is issued. Any document containing a seal, signature, date and COA information as required in (2) above shall be considered to be issued.(5) Seals, signatures, dates, COA Information and/or other notations required by this Rule shall be placed on original documents such that the seal, signature, date, COA Information and/or notations, will be reproduced when copies or scans are made. A "facsimile signature" that is to be placed on a property survey map or plat in accordance with O.C.G.A. 15-6-67 may be a scanned image of an actual signature or a computer generated signature, and must be kept in the strict control of the land surveyor.(6) Each drawing sheet, whether bound or unbound, shall be sealed, signed and dated by the registrant(s) responsible for the work on that sheet and contain the entity's COA information. If necessary due to number of sheets, in lieu of providing a seal, signature, date, and COA information on each drawing sheet, a summary sheet may be included in the form of a clearly drafted table or other format that identifies each registrants seal, signature, date, and COA information and which includes a narrative that clearly describes the element of work for which each registrant is responsible and indicates the most current version of each sheet. This summary sheet shall be included within the final documents. If a document is sealed, signed and dated and contains the entity's COA information by more than one registrant, the portion of the work for which each registrant is responsible shall be clearly noted.(7) Each document that is sealed, signed and dated by a registrant shall contain the name, address, and contact information of the firm or sole practitioner certifying the work. Each document shall have the entity's COA information included.(8) Documents as defined in Paragraph (1) that are transmitted electronically beyond the direct control of the licensee shall have the computer-generated seal removed from the original file, unless signed with an electronic signature as defined in Paragraph (9) of this Rule. After removal of the seal the electronic media shall have the following inserted in lieu of the signature and date: "This document originally issued and sealed by (name of sealer), (license number), on (Date of sealing) and the entity's COA Information. This medium shall not be considered a certified document." Hardcopy documents containing the original seal, signature, date and entity's COA information of the licensee may be duplicated by photocopy or electronic scanning processes and distributed either in hardcopy or electronic medium. The scanned digital files of certified documents are not subject to the requirements of this Paragraph. The electronic transmission beyond the direct control of the licensee of CAD, vector or other files subject to easy editing are subject to the requirements of this paragraph. Easy editing is based on the file consisting of separate elements that can be individually modified or deleted.(9) Documents to be electronically transmitted beyond the direct control of the licensee that are signed using an electronic signature shall contain the authentication procedure in a secure mode and a list of the hardware, software and parameters used to prepare the document(s). Secure mode means that the authentication procedure has protective measures to prevent alteration or overriding of the authentication procedure. This paragraph does not apply to property survey maps and plats governed by O.C.G.A. 15-6-67 which may be submitted in an electronic file format that is regulated by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks Cooperative Authority. The term "electronic signature" shall be an electronic authentication process that is attached to or logically associated with an electronic document. The electronic signature shall be: (a) Unique to the licensee using it;(b) Capable of verification;(c) Under the sole control of the licensee; and(d) Linked to a document in such a manner that the electronic signature is invalidated if any data in the document is changed.Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 180-12-.02
O.C.G.A. §§ 43-15-4(a), 43-15-6(a), 43-15-22.
Original Rule entitled "Land Titles and Location" adopted. F. Oct. 24, 1968; eff. Nov. 12, 1968.Repealed: F. July 31, 1975; eff. August 20, 1975.Amended: New Rule entitled "Sealing of Documents" adopted. F. May 7, 2001; eff. May 27, 2001.Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Jan. 28, 2005; eff. Feb. 17, 2005.Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Feb. 25, 2008; eff. Mar. 16, 2008.Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Jan. 23, 2009; eff. Feb. 12, 2009.Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Dec. 7, 2011; eff. Dec. 27, 2011.Amended: F. May 30, 2017; eff. June 19, 2017.Amended: F. May 17, 2019; eff. June 6, 2019.Amended: F. Aug. 24, 2022; eff. Sep. 13, 2022.