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Following is a question by the Hon James To and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (December 12):
Question:
Under the Road Traffic (Driving Licences) Regulations (Cap. 374 sub. leg. B), the Commissioner for Transport may directly issue a Hong Kong full driving licence without test to an applicant who, some time within three years before the date on which the applicant makes the application, had held a full driving licence issued by a competent authority in a "recognised country or place" (including the Mainland) ("direct issue of driving licences"). In this connection, will the Government inform this Council of the followings in the past five years:
(a) the number of applications for direct issue of driving licences received by the authorities each year; the number of applications approved each year, and the respective numbers of such applications the applicants of which were Hong Kong permanent residents (HKPR) and non-HKPR, with a breakdown of the applications from non-HKPR by the country or place that issued the driving licence held by the applicant; and
(b) the number of applications for direct issue of driving licences rejected by the authorities each year, with a breakdown by the country or place that issued the driving licence held by the applicant and by the reason for the rejection; the number of rejected cases in which the applicants were HKPR?
Reply:
President,
The mechanism of "direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence" is to allow people holding an overseas driving licence issued by a "recognised country or place" to be directly issued with a Hong Kong full driving licence without taking a Hong Kong driving test, so that they may drive private cars, light goods vehicles not exceeding 5.5 tonnes in gross weight, motor cycles and motor tricycles.
An applicant for "direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence", whether a Hong Kong permanent resident or not, must attain the age of 18 years and meet the requirements under section 11(3) of the Road Traffic (Driving Licences) Regulations (the Regulations) (Cap. 374B) as follows:
(i) The applicant is a holder of an overseas driving licence issued by any country or place listed in the Fourth Schedule of the Regulations (see Annex A), including a full driving licence of the People's Republic of China;
(ii) The overseas driving licence must:
(1) be still valid or not have expired for over three years; and
(2) be obtained after successful completion of a driving test conducted in the country or place which issued the licence.
(iii) The class of vehicles under application must be the same as the one the applicant is authorised to drive by the country or place which issued the licence.
(iv) Meeting one of the following requirements:
(1) The licence was originally issued to the applicant during a period of residence of not less than six months in the country or place of issue; or
(2) The applicant has been holding the licence issued to him by the recognised country or place for not less than five years immediately prior to the application; or
(3) The applicant is the holder of a passport or other equivalent travel document issued in the country or place in which the licence was issued.
Therefore, if an applicant for "direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence" fails to meet the other requirements under the Regulations, his application will not be approved even if he has held a full driving licence issued by a competent authority in a "recognised country or place" (including the Mainland) some time within three years before the date on which he makes the application.
My replies to the two parts of Hon To's question are as follows:
(a) The numbers of applications for "direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence" between 2007 and 2011 according to the records of the Transport Department (TD) are tabulated below:
Year No of applications
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2007 30,170
2008 31,330
2009 28,430
2010 30,910
2011 34,810
Regarding the numbers of approved applications for "direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence" during the period from 2007 to 2011, a breakdown by country/place which issued the driving licences held by the applicants are shown in Annex B. Since the permanent resident status is not one of the prerequisites for the approval of an application, the TD does not have separate breakdown on whether the applicant of an approved case is a Hong Kong permanent resident.
(b) As for the numbers of rejected applications for "direct issue of Hong Kong full driving licence" during the period from 2007 to 2011, a breakdown by country/place which issued the driving licences held by the applicants are shown in Annex C. Since the permanent resident status is not one of the prerequisites for the approval of an application, the TD does not have separate breakdown on whether the applicant of a rejected case is a Hong Kong permanent resident.
The reasons for all the rejected cases are the same, i.e. the applicants failed to fully meet the requirements under the Regulations. The TD's data system does not have a detailed breakdown on the specific reasons of rejection.
Ends/Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Issued at HKT 12:32
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