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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Lau Wong-fat in the Legislative Council today (November 11):
Question:
Regarding the situation of Hong Kong residents not being able to use their Smart Identity ("ID") Cards for immigration clearance through the Automated Passenger Clearance System ("e-Channels") due to fingerprint recognition problem, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the existing number of Smart ID Card holders who cannot use the e-Channel for immigration clearance due to fingerprint recognition problem, and its percentage in the total number of Smart ID Card holders;
(b) how much more time (including waiting time) on average these people take to complete immigration clearance procedure at the traditional counters for immigration clearance as compared with the time taken by those who use the e-Channel to complete the relevant procedure; and
(c) whether the authorities have considered introducing the face recognition access control system used by the Beijing Capital International Airport in the e-Channel system in Hong Kong, so that the people concerned can use the e-Channel for immigration clearance?
Reply:
President,
(a) According to the records of the Immigration Department, there are about 6,200 Smart ID Card holders who cannot use e-Channels for immigration clearance due to unclear or deformed fingerprints. They account for less than 0.1% of the total number of Smart ID Card holders;
(b) We do not keep statistics on the time for the above group of persons (persons who cannot use e-Channels because of unclear or deformed fingerprints) to complete immigration clearance procedure at traditional counters, but it takes 12 seconds on average for a Hong Kong resident in general to obtain immigration clearance at a traditional counter. This is roughly the same time for the same process at an e-Channel. The waiting time differs depending on the exact control point and time of the day in question;
(c) The Immigration Department will examine the feasibility of the introduction of facial recognition technology in the review of the Department's Information System Strategy.
Ends/Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 13:20
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