Introduction of Registered Fire Engineer Scheme

Currently, a person who intends to run certain types of premises has to obtain a certificate or letter issued by the Director of Fire Services certifying that the premises concerned have complied with all relevant fire safety requirements and will not expose persons therein to any undue risk of fire, before he/she can be issued a licence or a similar instrument by the regulatory authorities.  Under the Fire Services Ordinance (Cap. 95), the Fire Services Department (“FSD”) is the only party vested with the statutory authority to issue fire safety certification for buildings or premises. 

In order to facilitate business operations and optimize the use of professional human resources, the FSD introduced the Registered Fire Engineer (“RFE”) Scheme to leverage professional engineers and qualified persons in the market for the provision of fire safety risk assessment and certification services. 

The Fire Services (Registered Fire Engineers) Regulation was enacted on 26 September 2026 and the RFE Scheme will be implemented in phases.  Phase 1 will commence on 1 November 2025 for licence applications related to food businesses regulated under the Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X), and the relevant types of premises include general restaurants, light refreshment restaurants, factory canteens, food factories (whether or not for preparation of bakery products only) and composite food shops.  A comprehensive review will be conducted by FSD to evaluate the effectiveness of the Scheme after Phase 1 has been implemented for about six months. Subject to the evaluation results, consideration will be given to extending the Scheme to other licensed premises. 

This webinar aims to introduce the RFE Scheme to members of IFE(Hong Kong Branch) and HKIE(Fire Division), covering topics in relation to registration requirements, duties of RFE in relation to licensed premises and regulatory mechanism.