LCQ6: Use of e-certs
25 - 05 - 2005

Following is a question by the Hon Tsang Yok-sing and a reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, in the Legislative Council today (May 25):

Question:

In order to promote electronic commerce, the Hongkong Post (HK Post) has offered the public the option of embedding a digital certificate (e-Cert) in their smart identity cards (IDs), for free use in the first year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

1. of the number of e-Certs that have been embedded in smart IDs since the commencement of the Hong Kong Smart Identity Card Replacement Exercise in August 2003, and the respective percentages of this number against that of smart IDs issued by the Immigration Department and that of personal e-Certs issued by the HK Post so far;
   
   
2. whether it has estimated the monthly numbers of electronic transactions conducted in the past 12 months by the use of the e-Certs embedded in smart IDs for identity authentication; and
   
   
3. whether it has enquired about the up-to-date number of persons who never used the e-Cert embedded in their smart IDs for identity authentication by the expiry of the first-year free offer, and the reasons for their not using the e-Cert?
   
   

Reply:

Madam President,

My reply to the Hon Tsang Yok-sing's question is as follows:

1. As at end of April 2005, the Hong Kong Post Certification Authority (HKPCA) has issued about 880,000 personal e-Certs embedded on smart ID cards, representing 28 per cent of the total number of smart ID cards issued by the Immigration Department and 85 per cent of the total number of personal e-Certs issued by HKPCA.
   
   
2. Since there is no need to go through HKPCA's system when the public use their e-Certs in electronic transactions, HKPCA does not possess records or accurate information on whether the public have used the e-Certs embedded on their smart ID cards for identity authentication. We are therefore unable to verify the number of electronic transactions conducted using the personal e-Certs.
   In November 2004, Hong Kong Post surveyed the individuals who obtained their personal e-Certs embedded on smart ID cards during the period from June to August 2004. Results of the survey indicated that about 10 per cent of the respondents had used the e-Certs embedded on their smart ID cards.
   
   
3. As pointed out in part (b) of my reply, HKPCA does not possess records or information on whether the public have used their e-Certs. It is therefore unable to verify the number of persons who have never used the e-Certs embedded on their smart ID cards. However, based on the results of the survey conducted in November 2004, a rough estimate is that about 90 per cent of the persons who have obtained personal e-Certs embedded on smart ID cards have not used their e-Certs.
   
   

We believe that the main reason why some members of the public have not used their e-Cert is that there are still not yet sufficient e-commerce applications requiring the use of e-Certs in the market. The Government is therefore strengthening its promotion efforts to encourage the business community and the general public to use and adopt the e-Cert.

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