§ 17-48-201 — Licensure required - Sole or group practice - Surveyor interns

(a) (1) It is unlawful for a person who is not a professional surveyor licensed by the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Surveyors to hold himself or herself out as a professional surveyor to practice or offer to practice land surveying in the state, as defined in this chapter, or to use in connection with his or her name or otherwise assume or advertise any title or description tending to convey the impression that he or she is a professional surveyor unless the person has been licensed under this chapter. (2) The State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Surveyors may discipline nonlicensees that violate this chapter by the levy of a fine in an amount not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000) for each offense. (b) (1) (A) Admission to practice land surveying and surveying measurement certification shall be determined upon the basis of individual personal qualifications. (B) The right to engage in the practice of land surveying and surveying measurement certification is a personal right, based upon the qualifications of the individual, evidenced by his or her license certificate, and is not transferable. (2) "Surveying measurement certification" does not permit the preparation of engineering or architectural design documents or quantity estimate payment documents. (c) (1) A professional surveyor may practice his or her profession through the medium of or as a member or employee of a firm if: (A) All surveys are signed and stamped with the signature and seal of the professional surveyor in responsible charge; and (B) The firm has complied with § 17-48-207 . (2) The professional surveyor signing and sealing the surveys shall be personally and professionally responsible therefor, and his or her participation in any firm either as a partner, principal, or employee does not limit his or her individual liability. (d) A surveyor intern may engage in the practice of land surveying only as an employee of or under the supervision of a professional surveyor. (e) It is unlawful for a person to prepare, distribute, or place the public records, maps, documents, digital files, or other data that bear or contain a seal or any certification consisting of a verbal, numerical, or symbolic representation of the accuracy or precision of surveying measurements as defined in § 17-48-101(6) or that bear or contain a statement of determination by an authoritative professional source unless the maps, documents, digital files, or other data bear or contain the seal of a professional surveyor or professional engineer practicing within his or her respective discipline. (f) This chapter does not apply to: (1) The usual symbols and statements of the cartographic representation of scale and direction, including without limitation scale ratios, scale bars, and north arrows; (2) The preparation and attachment of metadata or to the scientific analysis of measurement data for research by a person who is not a professional surveyor or professional engineer; and (3) A government agency or office in conducting its statutory or constitutional duties to certify representations of spatial data. (g) This chapter does not impair or reduce the scope of: (1) The professional practice of engineers as defined by statute and rules of the State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Professional Surveyors; and (2) The professional practice of professional architects as defined by statute and rules of the Arkansas State Board of Architects, Landscape Architects, and Interior Designers.

Legislative History

Acts 1967, No. 101, §§ 1, 3; 1977, No. 807, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, §§ 71-2301, 71-2303; Acts 1997, No. 1297, § 1; 2005, No. 1178, § 10; 2009, No. 444, § 7.