Statement of John Koskinen.
Re: S 2392 RS, Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act.
Date: September 16, 1998.
Source: President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion.

Press Release
Room 115 • OEOB
Washington, D.C. 20502
(202) 456-7171 fax (202) 456-7172

President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion

STATEMENT OF JOHN A. KOSKINEN
Assistant to the President and
Chair, President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion

On behalf of the President, I am pleased to support the "Year 2000 (Y2K) Information and Readiness Disclosure Act." Prompt passage of this legislation will make a vital contribution to our efforts to address the year 2000 problem.

The Y2K problem is a global challenge. To increase their chances of overcoming the problem, organizations must be able to exchange information about their experiences with products, their system fixes, testing protocols, and test results. This bill encourages the sharing of such information, either directly by companies or through republication of such information by others, by limiting liability for such disclosures as long as they are made in good faith. For those just getting started on their year 2000 efforts around the world, this information may mean the difference between the success or failure of systems on January 1, 2000.

We want to encourage organizations to be candid about the status of their year 2000 efforts, and this bill will help them to communicate more openly about their Y2K readiness with the public and with each other, providing customers and business partners with useful information about the progress of efforts to battle the millennium bug. The bill will also encourage companies to provide the President’s Council with assessment information on their progress.

The bill does not affect companies’ underlying responsibility for the services or products they provide. It does provide special protection for consumers when purchasing information technology for their own use.

This process, which began in July with the President’s call for, and subsequent submission of, year 2000 information-sharing legislation, has been bipartisan, and I would like to thank Senators Hatch, Leahy, Bennett, Dodd, and Kyl and our numerous industry partners for all of their hard work. I would also like to thank Representatives Burton, Horn, Kucinich, Drier, Eshoo, Morella, and Leach for their significant contributions. It has been an outstanding example of people working together, across party and industry lines, to produce legislation that is truly in the public interest.