Special arrangement for renewal of vehicle and driving licences adopted again

The special pre-budget days arrangement for the renewal of expiring and expired vehicle and driving licences for the past two years' pre-budget days has proved very effective and will be adopted again this year.

A Transport Department (TD) spokesman said today (February 24): "This special arrangement has proved to be effective in maintaining the number of applications for vehicle and driving licences renewal during the three days before the Budget announcement at more or less the normal level. There were no abnormal queues, and the arrangement was well received by the public."

In view of the satisfactory results, the special arrangement will again be adopted this year.

Details of the arrangement for this year are as follow:

	All vehicle licences eligible for renewal on or before Budget Day (March 5, 2003), i.e. vehicles that are registered at the time of renewal and with licence expiry dates falling on or before July 4, 2003, can be renewed at the present rate, whether for four months or 12 months, at any time up to and including July 4, 2003.
	All full Hong Kong driving licences and driving instructor's licences eligible for renewal on or before Budget Day (March 5, 2003), i.e. those with expiry dates falling on or before July 4, 2003 and those which have expired for less than three years at the time of renewal up to July 4, 2003, can be renewed at the present rate at any time up to and including July 4, 2003.

The arrangement above applies only to the renewal of expiring and expired vehicle licences, full driving licences and driving instructor's licences. It does not apply to any other licensing services.

There is no need for eligible licence holders to rush to TD counters to have their licences renewed on speculation that those licence fees may be increased in the coming Budget.

"The arrangement is solely made to deal with the problem of long queues. The contents of the Budget are a separate question on which the Department has no information," the TD spokesman stressed.

At present, applications for renewal of vehicle and driving licences can be made on-line, through personal computers and public kiosks under the Electronic Service Delivery scheme. Applications may also be made by post. The public is encouraged to renew their licences through these channels.

End/Monday, February 24, 2003