July 13, 2022

Practice Guideline for Authenticating Professional Documents

Dear Engineers Yukon Members,

Engineers Yukon is pleased to provide you with the approved version of the Practice Guideline for Authenticating Professional Documents. This new guideline defines the professional responsibilities and obligations of Licensed Professionals (professional engineer or licensee) in their professional practice as well as those of a Permit Holder.

As background, all Licensed Professionals and Permit Holders registered in good standing with Engineers Yukon are issued a physical seal at the time of registration. Each seal is the property of the Association and is issued for the exclusive use of the Licensed Professional or Permit Holder and must be returned upon request.

Authentication (i.e. the act of sealing) involves affixing a professional seal, signature and date and is proof that a work product was completed or reviewed by a Licensed Professional in accordance with the Engineering Profession Act. Work products are any output of professional services that contain technical information that will be relied upon by others, internally or externally, to make a decision or to take action. A Licensed Professional must only seal a work product if they are in good standing with Engineers Yukon and that they have prepared directly, that was prepared until their direct supervision and control, or that was prepared by others and thoroughly reviewed by the Licenced Professional; and seal all work products for which they accept professional responsibility as required by the Engineering Profession Act.

Understanding and properly implementing authentication, particularly in the digital space, is one of the most talked-about challenges licensed professionals face in their practice. The Practice Guideline for Authenticating Professional Documents provides definitions and adds clarity to this important professional responsibility.

Areas addressed in the practice guideline include:

• defining work products to enable licensed professionals to better determine what should be authenticated
• defining a Responsible Member's validation of work products
• standardizing authentication and validation formats to enable licensed professionals, permit holder, and the public to easily identify the authenticator and the validator, as well as the dates of authentication and validation
• discussing the uses of digital technology to authenticate work products
• setting the requirements for the authentication of work products imported into or exported from the Yukon
• providing considerations for the retention and storage of authenticated work products

View the approved Practice Guideline for Authenticating Professional Documents.