Written by Acorn Sales Company, manufacturing stamps and seals since 1964 · Reviewed by Holly R, VP of Sales and Marketing at Acorn Sales, against the Idaho Board of Registration for Professional Geologists, administered by the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses and IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02, 200.02.a on 21 September 2026 · Updated 21 September 2026
An Idaho geologist seal is built to Appendix A of the board’s rules: an outer ring of one and one-half inches and an inner ring of one inch. Those are the figures the Appendix states directly, and IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02 then closes the content question with a sentence you rarely see in a seal rule: “No further words or wording are required.” Build to the Appendix A artwork and resist adding a legend borrowed from another state, a firm name, a discipline or an expiry date.
Idaho is the only one of its design professions to get a drawing with figures on it. Idaho engineers and land surveyors have a board-determined design with no published dimension, and Idaho architects and landscape architects have statutory element lists with no dimension. Only the geologists get numbers.
Three devices are named and the signature placement depends on which signature you use. IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02 provides that “The seal may be a rubber stamp, crimp, or electronically generated image. The Registrant’s signature and date are also included,” and adds that “A signature may be a handwritten or digital signature. If the signature is handwritten, it will be adjacent to or across the seal.” A digital signature’s position is left to you.
Idaho geologist seal requirements at a glance
| Requirement | Idaho rule | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes | IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02, 200.02.a |
| Required elements | The design is set by Appendix A of the rules, which fixes the ring geometry and No further wording is required by the rule | IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02 and Appendix A (Seal of Registered Professional Geologist) |
| Size and shape | An outer ring of one and one-half inches and an inner ring of one inch. | IDAPA 24.04.01, Appendix A |
| Device allowed | Three devices, named in the rule: “The seal may be a rubber stamp, crimp, or electronically generated image.” The safe buy is a rubber or self-inking stamp at the Appendix A geometry, because the seal has to. | IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02 |
| Signature and date | Signature and date go with the seal, and the placement rule depends on the signature type: “A signature may be a handwritten or digital signature. | IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02, 200.02.b |
| What must be sealed | All final specifications, reports, information and calculations, plus all original documents. | IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02.a, 200.02.b, 200.02.c |
| Electronic seal | Idaho permits an electronically generated image as a seal and a digital signature as a signature, and names no technology, certificate authority or verification standard for either. | IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02 |
| Renewal and lapse | Certificates of registration, expiration and renewal sit at Idaho Code §§ 54-2815 and 54-2816, and discipline at § 54-2819. | Idaho Code §§ 54-2815, 54-2816, 54-2819 |
| Firm requirements | Not applicable as a seal matter. | IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02.b |
| Regulator | The Idaho Board of Registration for Professional Geologists, administered by the Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses | IDAPA 24.04.01, Rules of the Board of Registration for Professional Geologists, section 200 (Practice Standards) and Appendix A (Seal of Registered Professional Geologist), read from the official rule PDF at the Idaho administrative rules site on two independently phrased extractions |
Is a seal required in Idaho?
The duty sits in statute and the mechanics sit in rule. Idaho Code § 54-2815 is headed Certificate of Registration, Certificate Fee, Signing of Work, Seal, Invalid Affixations Unlawful, and it is the section the board’s rule implements. IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02 states what the seal is and what goes with it: “The seal may be a rubber stamp, crimp, or electronically generated image. The Registrant’s signature and date are also included.” Subparagraph (a) supplies the trigger: “The seal, signature, and date must be placed on all final specifications, reports, information, and calculations.”
What must appear on the seal
- The design is set by Appendix A of the rules, which fixes the ring geometry
- No further wording is required by the rule
Idaho is unusually permissive about what appears on the face and unusually specific about the rings. The rule ends the seal paragraph with the sentence “No further words or wording are required,” and then Appendix A supplies the two diameters. Build to the Appendix A artwork. Do not add a firm name, a discipline, an expiry date or a specialty designation, and do not import the Alabama, Arkansas or Kentucky Registered Professional Geologist legends, which belong to other boards.
Size and shape
An outer ring of one and one-half inches and an inner ring of one inch. Appendix A to IDAPA 24.04.01 states the figures directly: Diameter of Outer Ring 1 1/2 Inches, Diameter of Inner Ring 1 Inch. Two independently phrased readings of the official rule PDF returned the same two dimensions. Note that this is a different geometry from the Idaho engineer and land surveyor seal, which has no published dimension at all, and from the Idaho architect and landscape architect seals, which also have none.
Embosser, rubber stamp or digital
Three devices, named in the rule: “The seal may be a rubber stamp, crimp, or electronically generated image.” The safe buy is a rubber or self-inking stamp at the Appendix A geometry, because the seal has to carry a signature and a date and both have to read on the copies that leave the office; a crimp alone will not reproduce.
Signing and dating
Signature and date go with the seal, and the placement rule depends on the signature type: “A signature may be a handwritten or digital signature. If the signature is handwritten, it will be adjacent to or across the seal.” So Idaho fixes the position of a handwritten signature and leaves a digital signature’s position open. The seal, signature and date must be placed on all original documents, and their application “constitutes certification that the work was done by the Registrant or under the Registrant’s supervision.”
Idaho publishes a dimensioned geologist seal and expressly requires no wording
Appendix A to IDAPA 24.04.01 gives two numbers, an outer ring of one and one-half inches and an inner ring of one inch, and IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02 then closes the question of content with a sentence you rarely see: “No further words or wording are required.” Build to the Appendix A artwork and resist the urge to add a legend borrowed from another state.
Which documents must be sealed
All final specifications, reports, information and calculations, plus all original documents. Sheet by sheet on drawings: “Each plan or drawing sheet is sealed and signed by the Registrant or Registrants responsible for each sheet,” and in a business entity each sheet is sealed and signed by the registrants involved, with the supervising professional geologist signing and sealing the title or first sheet. For reports and specifications “Only the title page of reports, specifications, and like documents need bear the seal, signature, and date.” The carve-out is labelling: “A document that is not final and does not contain a seal, signature, and date will be marked as ‘Preliminary,’ ‘Draft,’ or ‘Not for Construction.’” Subparagraph (c) covers the successor registrant: where the registrant in responsible charge is unavailable, a successor takes responsible charge by becoming familiar with and reviewing the project documents in detail and retaining them, with subsequent work clearly reflecting the successor’s responsible charge, and the successor must seal, sign and date all work product.
Electronic and digital seals
Idaho permits an electronically generated image as a seal and a digital signature as a signature, and names no technology, certificate authority or verification standard for either. There is no board approval process and no stripping language for uncertified electronic transmissions in IDAPA 24.04.01. Note the one placement consequence: because the rule ties the adjacent-or-across placement rule to a handwritten signature, a digital signature’s position relative to the seal is left to the registrant.
Renewal, lapse and retirement
Certificates of registration, expiration and renewal sit at Idaho Code §§ 54-2815 and 54-2816, and discipline at § 54-2819. The heading of § 54-2815 itself flags the point that matters: Invalid Affixations Unlawful. Not addressed: IDAPA 24.04.01 does not say whether the registration number changes on reinstatement or whether the device must be surrendered or destroyed. The sources here are IDAPA 24.04.01 section 200 and Appendix A and the Idaho Code ch. 54-28 section list, §§ 54-2801 through 54-2822.
Firm requirements
Not applicable as a seal matter. Idaho Code ch. 54-28 contains no certificate of authorization provision for geology firms: the chapter runs from short title and declaration of policy through definitions, the board, qualifications, examination, certificate of registration and seal, renewal, state and political subdivision contracts, discipline, violations and exceptions, with no business entity registration among them. The rule instead handles the business entity through the seal: in a business entity each plan or drawing sheet is sealed and signed by the registrants involved, and the supervising professional geologist signs and seals the title or first sheet. No firm number appears on the document.
What to check before you order
Order a device built to Appendix A of the board’s rules: an outer ring one and one-half inches in diameter and an inner ring one inch in diameter. The rule adds that no further words or wording are required, so do not letter a legend from another state onto it. A rubber stamp, a crimp or an electronically generated image are all permitted; buy a stamp, because the seal has to be read together with your signature and the date. Put the seal, signature and date on all final specifications, reports, information and calculations, and on all original documents. Seal and sign each plan or drawing sheet; for reports and specifications the title page is enough. Mark anything not final as Preliminary, Draft or Not for Construction. If you sign by hand, put the signature adjacent to or across the seal.
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Frequently asked questions
Is a geologist seal required in Idaho?
Yes. IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02.a provides that “The seal, signature, and date must be placed on all final specifications, reports, information, and calculations,” and the statutory basis is Idaho Code § 54-2815, headed Certificate of Registration, Certificate Fee, Signing of Work, Seal, Invalid Affixations Unlawful. Applying the seal, signature and date certifies that the work was done by you or under your supervision.
What size is an Idaho geologist seal?
An outer ring of one and one-half inches and an inner ring of one inch, stated in Appendix A to IDAPA 24.04.01 as Diameter of Outer Ring 1 1/2 Inches and Diameter of Inner Ring 1 Inch. That geometry does not match anything else in Idaho, because the other design professions have no published dimension at all.
What wording goes on it?
Only what Appendix A shows. The rule adds “No further words or wording are required,” so a supplier building to the Appendix A artwork has everything needed. Do not import the Registered Professional Geologist legends used in Alabama, Arkansas or Kentucky, which belong to other boards and other artwork.
Rubber stamp, crimp or electronic image?
All three are permitted by IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02. A rubber or self-inking stamp at the Appendix A geometry is the practical buy, because the seal has to be read together with your signature and the date on copies that leave the office, and a crimp alone will not reproduce.
Where does my signature go?
If it is handwritten, adjacent to or across the seal, which the rule states expressly. If it is a digital signature, the rule permits it and does not tie it to that placement, so the position is yours. Either way the date goes with the seal and the signature.
Which documents have to be sealed in Idaho?
All final specifications, reports, information and calculations, plus all original documents. On drawings it is sheet by sheet: “Each plan or drawing sheet is sealed and signed by the Registrant or Registrants responsible for each sheet.” For reports and specifications, “Only the title page of reports, specifications, and like documents need bear the seal, signature, and date.”
What about drafts and preliminary work?
Label them. The rule provides that “A document that is not final and does not contain a seal, signature, and date will be marked as ‘Preliminary,’ ‘Draft,’ or ‘Not for Construction.’” That is the opposite of the Illinois position, where preliminary and draft records offered to the public are sealed rather than marked.
How does a business entity handle sealing?
Through the individual registrants. In a business entity each plan or drawing sheet is sealed and signed by the registrants involved, with the supervising professional geologist signing and sealing the title or first sheet. Idaho Code ch. 54-28 has no certificate of authorization provision for geology firms, so no firm number appears on the document.
What happens if the geologist in responsible charge leaves a project?
IDAPA 24.04.01.200.02.c covers it. A successor takes responsible charge by becoming familiar with and reviewing the project documents in detail and retaining them, with subsequent work clearly reflecting the successor’s responsible charge, and the successor must seal, sign and date all work product.
Does Idaho set an electronic sealing standard?
It permits an electronically generated image as the seal and a digital signature as the signature, and names no technology, certificate authority or verification standard for either. IDAPA 24.04.01 has no board approval process and no stripping language for uncertified electronic transmissions, so the permission is broad and the mechanics are left to you.
