The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (January 2) announced that the qualifying standards (QS) for environment-friendly commercial vehicles will be tightened from April 1, 2019, as follows:
(a) For Heavy Duty Commercial Vehicles (with a design weight of more than 3.5 tonnes):
i. the QS for heavy duty commercial vehicles (except (a)ii) will be tightened from "Euro VI On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) Phase A/B with NOx emission at least 30 per cent less than the Euro VI limit" to "Euro VI OBD Phase C with NOx emission at least 30 per cent less than the Euro VI limit"; and
ii. for buses with a design weight of not more than 9 tonnes and light buses with a design weight of more than 3.5 tonnes, the current QS (Euro VI) will remain unchanged.
(b) For Light Duty Commercial Vehicles (with a design weight of not more than 3.5 tonnes),
i. the current QS for light duty commercial vehicles (except (b)ii) will be maintained as "Euro 6b OBD Euro 6-1 with NOx emission at least 50 per cent less than the Euro 6 limit"; and
ii. for taxis, the QS will be tightened from "Euro 6b OBD Euro 6-1 with NOx emission at least 50 per cent less than the Euro 6 limit" to "Euro 6c OBD Euro 6-2 with NOx emission at least 80 per cent less than the Euro 6 limit".
An EPD spokesman said, "As the statutory emission standards for first registered heavy duty commercial vehicles (except for buses with a design weight of not more than 9 tonnes and light buses with a design weight of more than 3.5 tonnes) will be tightened to Euro VI OBD Phase C from April 1, 2019, and the statutory emission standards for first registered taxis will be tightened to Euro 6c OBD Euro 6-2 from September 1, 2019, there is a need to tighten the relevant QS for the environment-friendly vehicles such that only vehicles with outstanding emission performance outstripping the prevailing statutory requirements can enjoy the first registration tax (FRT) concessions."
To improve roadside air quality and safeguard public health, the Government has been offering tax incentive since April 1, 2008, to encourage vehicle owners to choose environment-friendly commercial vehicles with exhaust emissions that outperform the prevailing statutory emission standards. The EPD reviews the qualifying standards of environment-friendly commercial vehicle models annually in the light of vehicle technological advancement, market availability and the prevailing statutory emission standards for first registered vehicles such that the tax incentive is available only to vehicles with outstanding emission performance.
At present, the rates of FRT reduction for environment-friendly commercial vehicle classes range from 30 per cent to 100 per cent subject to vehicle-class-specific caps per vehicle.
The EPD regularly updates the list of environment-friendly commercial vehicle models as new models enter the local market. The updated list of environment-friendly commercial vehicle models and the tightened qualifying standards are available at
www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/prob_solutions/environment_friendly_commercial_vehicles.html.
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