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New law to encourage Y2K disclosure
The State Government has introduced a Bill into State Parliament to encourage voluntary disclosure and exchange of information among business and industry about Year 2000 problems.
The Year 2000 Information Disclosure Bill 1999 is designed to provide limited liability protection for entities providing public information on Y2K compliance.
"Unfortunately, in the absence of legislation, the free flow of useful information by private and public interests has been discouraged by the possibility of legal action for damages, " the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Mark Birrell, said.
The Y2K issue is based on computers' possible inability to recognise the year 2000 because processors may read the year as two digits instead of four to save memory.
The Bill will provide limited protection for specific statements on voluntary disclosure but will not protect companies who made reckless or deliberately incorrect statements.
Year 2000 statements include detection, prevention and remediation of Y2K processing problems, supply of goods and services, activities of people and organisations, and plans to deal with those problems.
The Bill aims to reduce the likelihood of supply-chain impact by encouraging firms to openly state their level of preparedness.
The Bill will complement the Commonwealth Year 2000 Information Disclosure Act 1999, which received Royal Assent on February 26, and will have effect from that date until June 30, 2001. Mirror legislation is required due to limitations in the Commonwealth's constitutional powers.
The Government has been preparing for Year 2000 readiness since 1996, with a risk management unit within the Department of Treasury and Finance providing monthly compliance reports on more than 1100 government agencies for Cabinet consideration.