*********************
Following is a question by the Hon Paul Tse and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (May 6):
Question:
Trade licences and trade plates (T plates) are issued to vehicle manufacturers for delivery of vehicles, motor dealers for presale demonstration of vehicles to potential customers, and vehicle repairers for testing of serviced vehicles. In reply to a question raised by a Member of this Council in March 2013 on the Estimates of Expenditure 2013-2014, the Government pointed out that it had amended the relevant legislation in July 2012 to strengthen the monitoring mechanism for preventing abuse in the use of T plates. However, early last month, a traffic accident happened in which a works vehicle with the T plate lost control and caused the death of a pedestrian. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the progress of the Police's investigation into whether illegal use of the T plate was involved in the aforesaid traffic accident;
(2) of the respective numbers of reports and convictions relating to illegal use of T plates in each of the past three years; among such convictions, of the respective numbers of cases involving attempts to evade payments for the vehicle first registration tax or vehicle licence fees, and driving vehicles not yet tested by the authorities on compliance with safety and environmental protection requirements;
(3) of the number of vehicles with T plates that the Police intercepted (among such vehicles, the respective numbers of trucks and works vehicles), as well as the number of cases involving illegal use of T plates uncovered during such law enforcement operations, in each of the past three years;
(4) as it has been reported that insurance companies generally provide T plate holders with third party risk insurance coverage only, and they may refuse to pay compensations for traffic accidents which occurred while T plates were used illegally, of the average amount of damages awarded in respect of traffic accidents involving illegal use of T plates, as well as the highest amount of awarded damages, in each of the past three years; whether it knows if there were cases in which the convicted persons could not pay the full amount of awarded damages; if there were, of the details; and
(5) whether it has conducted any study on further amending the relevant legislation and stepping up law enforcement, so as to curb the abuse in the use of T plates?
Reply:
President,
My replies to the following parts of the question raised by the Hon Paul Tse are as follows:
(1) In respect of the traffic accident mentioned in the question in which a works vehicle under a trade licence allegedly had lost control and caused the death of a pedestrian, as the Police is conducting an investigation into the case, we are not in a position to make any comments at this stage.
(2) and (3) According to the information of the Police, the prosecution figures for illegal use of trade licences for the past three years from 2012 to 2014 are 21, 6 and 6 respectively. The Police does not keep any record of the number of reports and convictions relating to illegal use of trade licences and the number of vehicles under trade licences among the suspicious vehicles searched during routine enforcement operations.
(4) The claims relating to traffic accidents are civil litigation cases. The Office of the Commissioner of Insurance does not collect any statistics on damages awards in respect of traffic accidents involving the use of trade licences.
(5) Under the Road Traffic (Registration and Licensing of Vehicles) Regulations (Cap. 374E) (the Regulations), trade licences and trade plates are issued by the Transport Department (TD) to a manufacturer or a repairer of, or a dealer in, vehicles for use in the course of his/her business. They are valid for a maximum of one year. A trade licence contains information including the name and address of the holder, the number of the trade licence and its validity period. Trade plates are a pair of metal plates with the number of the trade licence printed on them. Trade licences and trade plates must be displayed on the vehicles in use under trade licences.
By way of legislative amendment in July 2012, the Government further strengthened the monitoring mechanism to prevent the abuse of use of trade licences. The amended Regulations stipulate that a holder of a trade licence must maintain a register of journeys recording the particulars of each journey (not less than 30 latest journeys). A duplicate copy of the register must also be kept on board the vehicle in use under the trade licence to facilitate enforcement action by the Police. Licence holders may only authorise their employees engaged in the relevant business to use the trade licences. To ensure that a trade licence will only be used by the licence holder or his/her authorised persons, all trade licence holders are required to maintain detailed authorisation records containing information on the particulars of the users authorised by the licence holders. The users authorised by the licence holders are also required to carry on board the written authorisations for checking upon request by TD or any Police officers.
The Police will carry out enforcement action to search suspicious vehicles (including vehicles under trade licences) on the road. TD will also conduct random checks on the registers of journeys, written authorisations and authorisation records on a regular basis to ensure the proper use of trade licences. Any non-compliance with the provisions on trade licences in the Regulations constitutes an offence. Apart from penalty imposed by courts, TD will normally cancel the trade licences concerned as an enhanced measure in combating abuses.
TD and the Police will continue to monitor the use of trade licences and will review the operation of the law from time to time to ensure that the use of trade licences will not be abused.
Ends/Wednesday, May 6, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:31
NNNN
