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Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

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  1. The Ordinance is to promote enhancement of the building energy efficiency in Hong Kong. The key requirements of the Ordinance include:

    1. Compliance of the minimum energy efficiency design standard as stipulated in the Building Energy Code in prescribed types of “newly constructed buildings” under the Ordinance;
    2. Compliance of the minimum energy efficiency design standard as stipulated in the Building Energy Code for prescribed “major retrofitting works” in prescribed types of building under the Ordinance; and
    3. Conduction of energy audit for central building services installations of commercial buildings and commercial portions of composite buildings every 10 years.

    More details of the objective and requirements may be found at the webpage of the Ordinance.

  2. The full operation date is 21 September 2012. Please visit the webpage of the Ordinance for more details.

  3. The Ordinance covers specified types of private and public buildings in Hong Kong. For residential buildings and industrial buildings, the Ordinance will only govern building services installations in common areas of these buildings. Residential units and industrial units are not covered by the Ordinance. For the detailed list of prescribed buildings, please refer to Schedule 1 of the Ordinance. On the other hand, the types of buildings to which the Ordinance does not apply are stated in Section 4 and 21(2) of the Ordinance.

  4. The Ordinance covers various categories of building as prescribed in Schedule 1 of the Ordinance. In case of doubt, the owner of a building should check the relevant occupation permit (OP) issued by the Buildings Department to confirm the category of the concerned building. Please click here for a sample of OP. Alternatively, the owner may check the land lease for the details.
    If the owner does not keep any of the abovementioned documents, the owner may obtain a copy of the OP from the Buildings Department (hotline: 2626-1616; e-mail: enquiry@bd.gov.hk; website: http://www.bd.gov.hk/) or a copy of the land lease from the Lands Department (hotline: 2231-3294; e-mail: landsd@landsd.gov.hk; website: http://www.landsd.gov.hk/). Should there be any further enquiries after checking the relevant documents, the owner is welcome to contact us.

  5. The Ordinance covers 4 key types of building services installation in the “prescribed buildings” which are listed in the Schedule 1 of the Ordinance, including air-conditioning installation, electrical installation, lighting installation as well as lift and escalator installation.

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  6. The Ordinance does not apply to individual building services installations solely used for the special purposes specified in Schedule 2 of the Ordinance, e.g. involving fire safety or life safety. However, if an installation is designed for the specified special purposes but also simultaneously for some other general purposes not listed in Schedule 2, it should still be governed by the Ordinance. For example, if a ventilation system (part of an air-conditioning installation) is designed for smoke extraction in case of fire but also simultaneously for general ventilation under normal situation, this ventilation system should not be regarded as “solely” used for fire suppression (item 1 of Schedule 2) and thus should still be governed by the Ordinance.

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  7. Please refer to the latest edition of the Building Energy Code for the detailed energy efficiency standards and requirements of the relevant building services installations and the latest edition of the Energy Audit Code for the detailed technical requirements of energy audit.

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  8. The Ordinance does not impose any retrospective effect on existing buildings. The relevant responsible persons are not required to do anything until they carry out “major retrofitting works” prescribed in the Ordinance. Those building services installations replaced or added in the major retrofitting works are required to comply with the latest edition of the Building Energy Code.

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  9. No. The Ordinance does not impose any retrospective effect on existing building services installations until these installations are replaced in the major retrofitting works. Those building services installations replaced or added in the major retrofitting works are required to comply with the latest edition of the Building Energy Code.

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  10. No. The Ordinance does not affect applications for OP or any other business license.

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  11. No. The Ordinance only governs the system design of the relevant building services installations in respect of energy efficiency. However, electrical and mechanical equipment such as electric motor and chiller have to satisfy the minimum energy efficiency performance as stated in the Building Energy Code.

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  12. No. For example, air-conditioning temperature setting and operation time of a lift are not restricted by the Ordinance.

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  13. HKEERSB is a voluntary scheme. Registration under this voluntary scheme is not regarded as having complied with the Ordinance.

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  14. No. Each block of the buildings on the podium and the podium itself as well should be regarded as a separate building. Therefore, for a newly constructed project, stage one declaration form (Form EE1) and stage two declaration form (Form EE2) should be separately submitted for each block of the buildings on the podium and the podium itself. On the other hand, for identifying whether certain retrofitting works in the common areas of the buildings or podium are major retrofitting works, the common areas in different block of buildings on the podium and the podium itself should be measured separately.

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  15. Pursuant to the interpretation of “unit” in the Ordinance, 2 or more units will be regarded as one single unit if the units meet both the following conditions –

    1. occupied by the same occupier for the purpose of the same undertaking; and
    2. interconnected by an internal corridor, internal staircase or other internal access.
    In this case, as a shop or a company, condition (i) above should be met. Then, the decisive factor should be condition (ii) above. If the original units are interconnected by internal corridors, internal staircases (including internal lifts or escalators as well) or other internal access (such as an access opening at the partition wall between two adjacent units), these units will be regarded as one single unit. Otherwise, they will still be regarded as separate units. Please note that the circulation areas, corridors or staircases outside the original units which is shared by other shops or companies will not be regarded as internal access.

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  16. No. Pursuant to the interpretation of “unit” in the Ordinance, 2 or more units or parts of a building will be regarded as one single unit if the units meet both the following conditions –

    1. occupied by the same occupier for the purpose of the same undertaking; and
    2. interconnected by an internal corridor, internal staircase or other internal access.
    In this case, irrespective of condition (ii) above met or not, condition (i) above has not been met.

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  17. No. Pursuant to the interpretation of “unit” in the Ordinance, 2 or more units or parts of a building will be regarded as one single unit if the units meet both the following conditions –

    1. occupied by the same occupier for the purpose of the same undertaking; and
    2. interconnected by an internal corridor, internal staircase or other internal access.
    It is apparently in this case that both the conditions (i) and (ii) above have been met. Therefore, the conference room should only be regarded as part of the office.

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    1. A COCR is valid for 10 years and applies to newly constructed buildings only. The relevant building owner is required to submit application to EMSD for renewal of the COCR every 10 years.
    2. There is no expiry date for a FOC. The FOC will be permanently valid until another “major retrofitting works” are carried out at the relevant unit or common area.
    3. An Energy Audit Form is valid for 10 years. The relevant building owner is required to appoint a Registered Energy Assessor to carry out energy audit and re-issue an Energy Audit Form every 10 years.

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  19. In normal circumstances, if non-compliance is identified, the EMSD may issue an improvement notice to the relevant responsible persons of that building / unit / common area (i.e. developer, the Incorporated Owners, owner, tenant or occupier etc.) and direct those persons to remedy the contravention within the period specified in the notice. The notice will contain directions about measures to be taken. The basic information, including issue date, building name and address etc., of each notice will be published at the webpage of the Ordinance. Once the contravention in a notice has been remedied, the notice will be removed from the relevant list at the webpage of the Ordinance.

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  20. After the Ordinance has come into full operation, the lists of the FOC received by the EMSD and the IN issued by the EMSD will be made available at the webpage of the Ordinance for public’s reference free of charge.

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  21. Only the developer, owner, tenant or occupier etc. are regarded as the relevant responsible parties who may submit an application form (i.e. Form EE-EX) to the EMSD and apply for exemption of any building services installation in the building from any provision of the BEC or energy audit requirement. However, the application must be submitted with heritage conversation, technical or operational reasons in order to prove that it is impracticable for a building services installation to comply with the relevant provisions. Please note that the application form must be signed by the responsible parties as listed in the table below but not others.

    Application for Exemption Responsible Parties
    Newly Constructed Building (Application for and Renewal of Certificate of Compliance Registration) Developer, owner, (e.g. the Incorporated Owners or all owners etc.)
    Major Retrofitting Works (Submission of Form of Compliance) The owner of a common area or the responsible person (e.g. owner, tenant or occupier etc.) of a unit
    Energy Audit (Submission of Energy Audit Form) The owner of a commercial building or the commercial portion of a composite building

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  22. Yes. Please refer to the webpage of the Appeal Board Panel for the details.

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  23. Yes. Only the developer, owner, tenant or occupier etc. are regarded as the relevant responsible parties who may submit an application in a specified form (Form EE7) to the EMSD for each duplicate. The application fee is $155 per duplicate. Please note that the application form must be signed by the responsible parties as listed in the table below but not others.

    Application for Duplicate Responsible Parties
    COCR Developer, owner, (e.g. the Incorporated Owners or all owners etc.) and the responsible person of a unit (e.g. owner, tenant or occupier etc.)
    FOC The owner of a common area or the responsible person (e.g. owner, tenant or occupier etc.) of a unit
    Energy Audit Form The owner of a commercial building or the commercial portion of a composite building

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  24. Fees are required for application for Certificate of Compliance Registration, registration as Registered Energy Assessor and duplicates of specified certificates/forms but submission of Form of Compliance and Energy Audit Form is free of charge. The fees are prescribed in the Buildings Energy Efficiency (Fees) Regulation (Cap. 610A), which is a subsidiary regulation unde r the Ordinance.

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  25. In most cases, the relevant responsible parties who commit an offence under the Ordinance are liable to fines ranging from $2,000 to $1,000,000, depending on the offence committed. For example, if the owner of a common area or the responsible person (i.e. owner, tenant or occupier etc.) of a unit fails to obtain a Form of Compliance (FOC) from a Registered Energy Assessor (REA) within 2 months after completion of the “major retrofitting works”, that person will be liable to a fine at level 5 ($50,000). If, however, any person provides false information or obstructs enforcement, that person will be liable to a fine and imprisonment.

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  26. The requirements of “stage one declaration”, “stage two declaration” and obtaining a COCR from EMSD (i.e. Part 2 or sections 7 to 15 of the Ordinance ) do not apply to alteration and addition works even “consent” or OP is issued in respect of the works. However, the requirement of obtaining a Form of Compliance (FOC) from Registered Energy Assessor (i.e. Part 3 or sections 16 to 20 of the Ordinance ) may apply to the alteration and addition works depending on whether the scope of works is within the definition of "major retrofitting works" under the Ordinance.

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  27. The EMSD will issue an acknowledgement letter to the relevant person upon receipt of “stage one declaration”. As for other statutory forms, the EMSD will maintain the relevant lists at the website of the Ordinance as indicated in the following table for the relevant persons to check if their forms have been received by the EMSD.

    Type of form
    Relevant list at the website of the Ordinance
    Form of Compliance
    Energy Audit Form
    Stage Two Declaration

    The above lists will be updated by the EMSD regularly. However, if the data of the concerned buildings or premises have not yet been found in the corresponding list one month after submission of Forms of Compliance or Energy Audit Forms or three months after submission of Stage Two Declarations to this office, the relevant persons may make enquiries to this office whether their forms have been received by the EMSD.

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  28. Public Transport Interchange is NOT regarded as one of the prescribed buildings under the BEEO. As such, the compliance with the BEC is not mandatory.

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  29. Pursuant to Schedule 1 of the BEEO, 13 types of building are governed under the Ordinance. A standalone plant room is NOT one of the prescribed buildings and the requirements on COCR or FOC are not applicable.

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  30. According to Technical Circular No.1/2017 issued on 29 December 2017, for any inquiry on project specific issue, Form EE-EN should be duly completed in order to allow this office gathering more background before making a proper and precise reply. Please refer to the following link for the Circular.

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