According to the Road Traffic (Registration and Licensing of Vehicles) Regulations, Cap.374E (the "Regulations"), a trade licence can only be used on vehicles in possession of a bona fide manufacturer or repairer of or dealer in vehicles who is the licence holder for specified purposes. The licence holder must adhere to all usage restrictions when using the trade licence. A trade licence is valid for 1 year. A bona fide manufacturer or repairer of or dealer in vehicles may according to their business needs apply for trade licence.
The Regulations empowers the Commissioner for Transport to issue the following trade licences for use on different kinds of vehicles:
The permitted usage of the two types of trade licences are:
Existing Trade Licence | New Trade Licence |
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- driving an unregistered non-left-hand drive vehicle in the course of delivery to a motor dealer or exhibitor; - driving a non-left-hand drive vehicle for the purpose of presale demonstration to a potential customer; - driving a non-left-hand drive vehicle for the purpose of mechanical test; or - driving a non-left-hand drive vehicle for the purpose of examining, repairing or presale retrofitting the vehicle. |
- driving an unregistered left-hand drive vehicle in the course of delivery to a motor dealer or exhibitor; - driving a left-hand drive vehicle for the purpose of examining, repairing or presale retrofitting the vehicle; or - driving an unregistered left-hand drive vehicle to a port or boundary control point for the purpose of re-export to a place outside Hong Kong. |
The usage restrictions of the two types of trade licences are as follows:
Existing Trade Licence | New Trade Licence |
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- be intended for re-export to a place outside Hong Kong; - comply with paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 22 of the 1949 Convention; and - have been imported into Hong Kong for not more than 12 months (Note: the driver of the vehicle must, on request by any police officer or the Commissioner, immediately produce evidence to that effect.)
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A trade licence holder must maintain a "record of authorization" and a register of all journeys made under the trade licence. The holder of a trade licence must immediately produce the record of the authorization for inspection on request by any police officer or the Commissioner for Transport. The authorized user must carry on board the "written authorization" and duplicate copy of the "register of journeys" containing the particulars of the latest 30 journeys when using a trade licence. The documents must be immediately produced for inspection on request by any police officer or the Commissioner for Transport.
If you need to drive a vehicle to a boundary closed road with a trade licence, you must also apply for a "closed road permit".
When using trade licence, relevant persons must abide by the above regulations and restrictions, or else he/she may be prosecuted and face a maximum fine of $2,000. Any person who contravenes trade licence usage regulations and/or other traffic regulations may have his/her trade licence cancelled.
If you want to apply for a trade licence, please read the application information and submit all required documents by mail to the Driving Licence Records Office, Transport Department, 30/F, Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong, or by fax to 2865 3475, or by email to codlr@td.gov.hk.
Upon receipt of all required documents, the Transport Department will give a written reply to each of the successful and unsuccessful applicants within 14 working days after the receipt. Please bring all the following documents and approach Counter 5 of the Hong Kong Licensing Office of this department at 3/F., United Centre., 95 Queensway, Hong Kong for issue of trade licence after receiving our approval-in-principle:
The trade licence regulations can be found at http://www.elegislation.gov.hk, In particular, you should read regulations 42-48, 57 and 60, and Schedules 12 to 14 of the Road Traffic (Registration and Licensing of Vehicles) Regulations, Cap.374E.
If you have any questions, you can call the Driving Licence Records Office at 2594 7879.