A digital visiting card for architects, inside the Architects Act
Architects may not advertise, but the Council of Architecture's conduct regulations list eight exceptions, and two of them describe a digital card: material on your experience and capabilities for clients you can name, and your name on a website. Here is how to build a profile that stays inside them, starting with who may use the word "architect".
Who may put "Architect" on the card
Only a registered architect, or a firm of architects. Section 37 of the Architects Act, 1972 says no one else shall use the title and style of architect. The exceptions are narrow: a landscape architect, a naval architect, and a foreign architect working on a specific project with the Central Government's permission.
The penalty is a fine of up to ₹500 on a first conviction, and up to six months in prison or a fine of up to ₹1,000, or both, after that. Section 36 separately fines anyone who falsely claims to be on the register, or uses words or letters that suggest they are.
A visiting card is exactly where this gets tested. The Council's own complaint form for title misuse lists a business card, alongside signed drawings and a letterhead, as evidence a complainant can upload.
So put your registration number on the profile, next to the title. The Council's Verify Your Architect page takes it in the form CA/year/number, so a client can check it before signing anything. If you are not registered, describe the work you do without the word "architect".
No advertising, with eight exceptions
The Architects (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 1989 say an architect shall not advertise, or let their name be used for publicity, except in the eight ways below. Breaking any part of regulation 2(1) is professional misconduct. Here is each exception, and what it means for a card.
| Exception | What it allows | For your card |
|---|---|---|
| (a) | What it allowsA notice of a change of address, published on three occasions, and a letter to your correspondents. | For your cardChange the address on the profile. Every card you have handed out opens the new one. |
| (b) | What it allowsYour name outside your office and on a building you designed, in letters no taller than 10 cm. | For your cardThe rule allows your name. We would not add a QR code or a profile link to a site board. |
| (c) | What it allowsYour name and address in advertisements for tenders, staff and similar matters. | For your cardNothing new for the card: the notice carries your name and office address. |
| (d) | What it allowsYour name alongside illustrations and descriptions of your work in the press or other public media, with no payment either way. | For your cardProject photographs with plain descriptions. Never a paid feature. |
| (e) | What it allowsYour name in a supplier’s or manufacturer’s advertisement for materials used in your building, shown unostentatiously and unpaid. | For your cardNothing to add. A supplier who names you should not be paying you for it. |
| (f) | What it allowsYour name in a client’s brochure promoting a project you were commissioned for. | For your cardNothing to add to the card: the brochure may name you as the architect. |
| (g) | What it allowsBrochures and pamphlets on your experience and capabilities, for potential clients you can identify by name and position. | For your cardThis is the profile itself: your experience and work, handed to a named person. |
| (h) | What it allowsYour name in the classified columns of a trade or professional directory, a telephone directory, or a website. | For your cardException (h) dates from a 2003 amendment. A profile is a web page with your name on it. |
Hand it to people you can name
Exception (g) is the one a card lives under. It allows brochures and pamphlets describing your experience and capabilities, but only for potential clients you can identify by name and position. A card suits it, because you hand it to one person at a time.
The site owner who asks for your details, the developer you meet at a project review, the family a friend introduced: you can name each of them, so hand over the card or send the link. What falls outside the exception is reaching people you cannot name - a WhatsApp broadcast to a list of builders, a pamphlet drop, a paid post.
Exception (h) covers the profile existing at all. It comes from a 2003 amendment and lets your name appear on a website, as well as in trade and telephone directories, so a profile someone finds by searching for you is within it too.
For project photographs, exception (d) points the same way: your name may go with illustrations and descriptions of your work, as long as nobody pays or is paid for the appearance. Describe each project plainly - the brief, the site, what you built - and let the photographs do the rest.
What to keep off the card and the profile
Four things on a general-purpose profile, ours included, run into the Act or the regulations. Each one is a single clause, and each is easy to leave empty.
Fees and reviews: the regulations do not say whether a brochure may carry fees or client reviews. They do ask you to tell a client your conditions of engagement and scale of charges before you are appointed (2(1)(iv)), so we would leave prices off the profile and put them in writing for each client. A Google review button asks the public to publicise you, which sits uneasily with the advertising rule; ask the Council before you switch one on.
This page explains the published Act and regulations. It is not legal advice, and the Council of Architecture has the final word on how they apply to you.
What a practice pays
Your title, registration number, projects and contact details all fit on Basic. For a partnership, regulation 2(2) makes every partner responsible for the firm keeping to the rules, and one Pro account holds up to 5 profiles: one for each partner, each with their own registration number.
Questions from architects
Can an architect use a digital visiting card?
Yes, within the exceptions to the advertising rule in regulation 2(1)(xxv). Exception (g) allows brochures describing your experience and capabilities for potential clients you can identify by name and position, and exception (h), added in 2003, allows your name on a website. A profile you hand to a named person fits both.
Who may put "Architect" on a card?
Only a registered architect, or a firm of architects. Section 37 of the Architects Act, 1972 prohibits anyone else from using the title and style of architect, with narrow exceptions for landscape architects and naval architects. A first conviction carries a fine of up to ₹500.
Should my registration number be on the profile?
We would put it there. The Council’s Verify Your Architect page takes a registration number in the form CA/year/number, so a client can check you in a minute. Section 36 separately fines anyone who falsely claims to be on the register.
Can I show my projects?
Exception (g) covers material describing your experience and capabilities, and exception (d) lets your name appear with illustrations and descriptions of your work in the press, as long as no one is paid for it. Photographs and short descriptions of your projects on a profile you hand to named clients fit that.
Can I send my profile link to a WhatsApp group of builders?
Exception (g) is for potential clients you can identify by name and position. Sending the link to a person you have met or been introduced to fits it. Broadcasting it to a group of people you cannot name is closer to the advertising the regulation bars.
Can I offer a free first design?
Not in competition with other architects. Regulation 2(1)(xiv) says an architect shall not prepare designs in competition with other architects for a client without payment or for a reduced fee, except in a competition run under the Council’s guidelines.
Do clients need an app?
No. A tap on the NFC card opens the profile in the phone’s browser, and the client can save your name, phone and email to their contacts in one tap.
Also for regulated professions: chartered accountants and ICAI's guidelines, advocates and Bar Council Rule 36 and dentists and the dental code.
Sources
The Act and the regulations are quoted from the copies on the Council of Architecture's website. Each was read on the date shown.
- Council of Architecture, The Architects Act, 1972. Checked .
- Council of Architecture, Architects (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 1989 - F.No. CA/1/89, 11 May 1989, as amended in 2003. Checked .
- Council of Architecture, Concerns About Misuse of Title and Style of Architect. Checked .
- Council of Architecture, Verify Your Architect. Checked .
A card that carries your title
and the number that proves it.
One tap shares your registration number, qualification, projects and a way to reach you, with the people you choose to hand it to. From ₹199/year.