There are three government departments which are involved in the importation and registration of motor vehicles to Hong Kong, they are namely the Customs and Excise Department, Environmental Protection Department and Transport department. The following guidelines help to explain the procedures that were required by respective departments.

Step 1 : Compliance with the Exhaust and Noise Emissions Standard

You are advised to obtain approval / exemption from the Environmental Protection Department before shipping your vehicle into Hong Kong.

You are required to prove your vehicle is fully compliant with the emission standards in the Air Pollution Control (Vehicle Design Standards)(Emission) Regulation and Noise Control (Motor Vehicles) Regulation. Proof of emission compliance can be documents issued by vehicle manufacturers or emission testing report issued by an approved test laboratory. You should submit application form to the Environmental Protection Department for approval together with all original supporting documents.

Subject to the fulfillment of exemption criteria, certain catergories of vehicles may be exempted from complying the exhaust emission standard. You may apply to the Environmental Protection Department for the exemption. Enquiries on approved test laboratories, emission standards and exemption criteria can be made to telephone numbers: (852)2877 0448 (Exhaust emission); (852)2411 9665 (Noise emission) or fax number: (852)2824 9361.

Step 2 : Importation

Vehicles, no matter whether it is a company car or not, imported into Hong Kong are not subject to any Customs tax, but in general, an importer is required to lodge with the Customs and Excise Department an accurate and complete declaration within 14 days of importation. For importer already registered with one of the three service providers appointed by the Government, he can lodge import declaration to the Government directly from his personal computer. For occasional importer and individual, they can lodge import declarations at the service centres set up by the service providers and their partners to convert paper declarations for electronic transmission. For further information about the electronic lodgement service, or to register for using the service, please call (in alphabetical order) Brio Electronic Commerce Ltd at 2111 1288, Global e-Trading Services Ltd at 8201 0082, or Tradelink Electronic Commerce Ltd at 2599 1700.

Also, within 30 days of the importation of your vehicle, you should submit an Import Return (Form No.: CED336) enclosing with a Declaration Form (Form No.: CED336A) to the Customs and Excise Department or through the Motor Vehicles First Registration Tax System website. Enquiries on the submission of Import Return can be made at Tel No.: (852) 3759 2555.

Any importer of a motor vehicle for use in Hong Kong, fails to file the import return within 30 days of the importation of a motor vehicle into Hong Kong, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of $500,000 and to imprisonment for 12 months.

Following the submission of your Import Return, you will receive a "Notification of Motor Vehicle Provisional Taxable Value" of your vehicle from the Customs and Excise Department. The Notification should be produced on first registration of your vehicle in the Transport Department.

Step 3 : Vehicle Examination

Before importing a vehicle, you are reminded to ensure that it meets the applicable requirements for registration in Hong Kong, and that documentary evidence is available to demonstrate compliance where applicable.

Upon the arrival of your imported vehicle in Hong Kong, you should approach the following Vehicle Examination Centre to arrange for the vehicle examination. You are required to bring along with the approval letter issued by the Environmental Protection Department to show that your car has complied with the vehicle exhaust emission and noise emission standards and pay the appropriate fee for vehicle examination :-

If you are eligible for the exemption from compliance with the vehicle emission standard as stated in Step 1 above, you should bring along with the approval letter of exemption issued by the Environmental Protection Department for making the appointment of vehicle examination at the Examination Centre. All imported used cars, including new cars imported for personal use, should undergo smoke test during vehicle examination. Your car will be issued with a Certificate of Roadworthiness by the Examination Centre if it can pass the vehicle examination.

Vehicles presented for vehicle examination (pre-registration examination) need to comply with the provisions of the Road Traffic Ordinance, Chapter 374 and its subsidiary legislation , and should be maintained in good and serviceable condition. In particular,

1. The vehicle construction shall comply with the Road Traffic (Construction and Maintenance of Vehicles) Regulation, Cap. 374A.
2. The seat belts and seat belt anchorage points shall comply with the provisions of the Road Traffic (Safety Equipment) Regulations, Cap. 374F. All seat belts shall be permanently marked with a specification number, mark or symbol indicating compliance with the standards listed in the legislation.
3. The windscreen and panes on the vehicle shall be of safety glass complying with the standards specified in Cap. 374H. In addition, all vehicle glass shall be of such transparency that it does not obscure the view of the interior of the motor vehicle. Please refer to the notice on latest light transmission rate requirement at our website. (The above Ordinance and Regulations are available online at http://www.legislation.gov.hk/eng/home.htm)
4. For electric vehicle models and plug-in hybrid vehicle models, submission of further information from the manufacturer is required to ascertain their safe use in Hong Kong.

You are highly recommended to visit the following website for checking any requirements that may be applicable to your imported vehicle :-www.td.gov.hk/en/public_services/vehicle_examination/vehicle_examination/index.html

Step 4 : Vehicle Registration and Licensing

When applying for first registration of your vehicle, you should submit a completed application form (Form No.: TD22 ) to the Hong Kong Licensing Office of Transport Department (Tel No.: (852) 2804 2637 or Fax No.: 2804 2599) together with the supporting documents as prescribed in the application form. Upon the verification of your submitted document, you are required to pay first registration tax and registration fee for the registration of your vehicle, and pay vehicle licence fee and levy for Traffic Accident Victim Assistance Fund for licensing of the vehicle.

Step 5 : Calculation of First Registration Tax

The first registration tax will be derived from the taxable value of your vehicle times the appropriate tax rate. The rate is as shown below :-

Class of Motor Vehicle	Rate of Tax
Private cars
a.  the first $150,000 of taxable value	40%
b.  on the next $150,000	75%
c.  on the next $200,000	100%
d.  on the remainder	115%
Motor cycles and motor tricycles	35%
a.  Goods vehicles, other than van-type light goods vehicles (LGV)	15%
b.  Van-type LGV not exceeding 1.9 tonnes permitted gross vehicle weight:
i.    on the first $150,000	35%
ii.   on the next $150,000	65%
iii.  on the remainder	85%
c.  Van-type LGV exceeding 1.9 tonnes permitted gross vehicle weight	17%
Taxis, Light buses, Buses and Special purpose vehicles	3.7%

In the case where the price of your vehicle is expressed in foreign currency, in calculating the taxable value, the opening indicative counter exchange selling rate published by the Hong Kong Association of Banks on the date of importation of your vehicle will be taken as the exchange rate of the foreign currency.

Application for the registration and licensing of a left hand drive vehicle will not be accepted unless there are special circumstances.

For the "Procedures for Importation and Registration of Motor Vehicles and Motor Cycles", please click here  (571 KB).

Notes for attention :

With effect from 16 September 2008, applicants are required to produce proof of present address (residential address and correspondence address) which is issued not more than 3 months from now (e.g. water/electricity/gas/mobile phone bill or bank correspondence), when applying for the Registration of Vehicle, First Issue of Learner's Driving Licence / Full Driving Licence / Driving Instructor's Licence / Temporary Driving Licence / Vehicle Licence, Renewal of Full Driving Licence / Vehicle Licence, Direct Issue of Full Driving Licence and Change of Address. Transport Department may suspend the processing of the above applications until the production of address proof.

For reference purposes, the public can search the current highest approved Published Retail Price (PRP) of the vehicle models by using the searching function in the Motor Vehicles First Registration Tax System of the Customs and Excise Department accessed through the websites of Transport Department or Customs and Excise Department.