Hansard Explorer

Ms Tin Pei Ling asked the Minister for Transport (a) how ERP 2.0 satellite-based technology will enhance enforcement capabilities compared to the existing ERP system, including at locations without physical ERP gantries; and (b) whether the data collected may support enforcement and investigations by other Government agencies.

The Senior Minister of State for Transport (Ms Sun Xueling) (for the Minister for Transport): Mr Speaker, Sir, as with Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) 1.0, ERP 2.0 is designed primarily for road pricing purposes, but supports other motoring-related functions, including the enforcement of laws and regulations.

Data collected on individual vehicles is aggregated and anonymised when transferred to the Land Transport Authority's (LTA's) backend system for traffic management and planning. However, when specific vehicles need to be identified for enforcement purposes, LTA is able to retrieve location data from sensors and systems. LTA has done this for enforcement against serious offences, such as illegal cross-border taxi services and for detecting deregistered vehicles.

Like all other Government data, ERP 2.0 data will be subject to existing statutory obligations. For example, under the Criminal Procedure Code, the Police can require data to be produced for a criminal investigation. For other authorised purposes, the use and sharing of ERP 2.0 data will be governed by the applicable public sector data governance requirements, with safeguards to ensure data protection and data security, and to prevent unauthorised access.

Mr Speaker: Ms Tin.

Ms Tin Pei Ling (Marine Parade-Braddell Heights): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the answer. I have two supplementary questions.

Number one is that I note that there would be obligations on LTA, for example, to oblige with the statutory restrictions or requirements in terms of, I presume, data protection. May I have a bit more details or colour on that: what kind of safeguards will be in place to protect the data? And the Senior Minister of State mentioned it would be used for some of the more serious offences. She named two examples. Could I also understand what other kind of, maybe, penal crimes or offences that we are looking at?

One of the reasons why I am asking this is that at some of our weekly Meet-the-People Sessions, we do encounter residents coming to ask for video or photographic evidences for offences that they claim they did not commit. And so, would this type of situations come under this ambit? That is the first part.

Second, is that I note that at, upfront, with this satellite-based ERP 2.0, distance-based ERP charging is not part of the current plan. But I would like to ask whether this idea is being considered by LTA for future implementation as well.

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank Ms Tin for her question. I will answer the second question first. Yes, indeed, we will consider in a subsequent phase for ERP 2.0. That is for her second question.

On her first question with regard to safeguards, what safeguards are in place, the on-board unit (OBU) is designed with a high level of security and encryption, and it also adheres to stringent international technical standards and strict regulations by the Infocomm Media Development Authority to ensure safety, reliability and interoperability. Data stored in OBU cannot be directly accessed by motorists. That is not the intention. So, any data transmitted by OBU can only be accessed by the Government and is stored in a secure environment.

Coming back to her question as to what are the situations in which we could use ERP 2.0 data for. Actually, some of the offences that LTA already enforces today under ERP 1.0 will similarly be enforced under ERP 2.0. Some of the use cases would be, as I mentioned before, to detect deregistered vehicles, the use of off-peak cars driven outside their permitted hours as well as the use of vehicles that should not be driven on roads, such as vehicles on lay-up and keeping schemes. So, these are already enforced under ERP 1.0 and we will continue to do so under ERP 2.0.