EPD to tighten qualifying standards for environment-friendly commercial vehicles in phases from April
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     The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) today (March 27) announced that the qualifying standards for environment-friendly commercial vehicles will be tightened in phases from April 1 this year as follows:

(a) For light duty commercial vehicles (with a design weight of not more than 3.5 tonnes): 
i. starting April 1, the qualifying standard for diesel ones will be tightened to "Euro 6 with nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission at least 50 per cent less than the Euro 6 limit"; and
ii. the current qualifying standard for petrol/liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) ones, which was already pitched at "Euro 6 with NOx emission at least 50 per cent less than the Euro 6 limit", will remain unchanged. 

(b) For heavy duty commercial vehicles (with a design weight of more than 3.5 tonnes):
i. starting October 1, the qualifying standard for heavy duty commercial vehicles (except (b)ii) will be tightened from Euro VI to "Euro VI 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 qualifying standard (Euro VI) will remain unchanged.

     An EPD spokesman said, "As the statutory emission standard of light duty diesel commercial vehicles was tightened to Euro 6 on January 1 this year, there is a need to tighten the qualifying standards for these vehicles (currently at Euro 6) such that only vehicles with outstanding emission performance outstripping the prevailing statutory requirements can enjoy the first registration tax (FRT) concessions. Hence, starting April 1, the qualifying standard of light duty diesel commercial vehicles will be tightened to Euro 6 with NOx emission at least 50 per cent less than the Euro 6 limit. For heavy duty commercial vehicles, the current qualifying standard pegged at Euro VI has been kept unchanged for two years, and there is increasing supply of Euro VI 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) on the local market. Therefore, the qualifying standard for heavy duty commercial vehicles will be tightened to Euro VI with NOx emission at least 30 per cent less than the Euro VI limit starting October 1."

     To improve roadside air quality and safeguard public health, the Government has been operating the FRT incentive scheme 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 newly 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.

Ends/Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Issued at HKT 16:30

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