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Vehicle emission standards reviewed regularly
Following is a question by the Hon David Chu Yu-lin and a written reply by the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, Mr Bowen Leung, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
Regarding the air pollution problem in the territory, will the Government inform this Council whether it will:
Reply:
(a)
(b)
(c)
Mr President,
(a)
review the vehicle emission standards which have been in use for over
ten years;
take steps to tighten the enforcement of the vehicle emission standards; if so, what the details are; and
consider hiving off the Environment Protection Department from the Planning, Environment and Lands Branch and upgrading the Department to a separate policy branch so as to give the new set-up greater independence and flexibility in the redeployment of its resources towards tackling the air pollution problem, particularly in the control of emissions from motor vehicles?
The assertion in part (a) of the question is not true. On the contrary, the emission standards for new vehicles are reviewed regularly and have been progressively tightened in tandem with the latest international standards and technological advancement. The standard for petrol vehicles was last tightened in 1991, which required new vehicles registered after 1992 to use unleaded petrol and be fitted with a catalytic converter. The standard for diesel vehicles was also upgraded in 1995 in line with the Euro I standard. The more stringent Euro II standard, which was adopted in Europe in October 1996, will be implemented on large diesel vehicles in April 1997. We are now reviewing the standard for small diesel vehicles. In addition, in-use vehicles on the road are required to meet a smoke emission standard of 60 Hartridge Smoke Unit (HSU) to ensure that they are maintained to a satisfactory condition. Since 1995, vehicles manufactured in or after 1990 are required to meet a more stringent test standard of 50 HSU.