09:30 PM ET 10/01/98
U.S. Congress passes computer info exchange bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives Thursday
joined the Senate in passing legislation that would allow U.S.
companies to share information about fixing computers unable to
handle dates beginning with year 2000.
Clinton lauded the congressional action and pledged to sign
it into law.
``This important bipartisan legislation, based on a proposal
by my administration, will help our nation prepare its computer
systems for the new millennium,'' Clinton said in a statement.
The legislation is intended to help break the silence by
businesses and others and encourage greater disclosure of plans
to wipe out the dreaded ``millennium bug.''
The bill provides limited liability protections to encourage
companies to share information about products,
methods and best practices related to so-called Year 2000
problems -- related to older systems programmed to read only the
last two digits of years -- while protecting consumers from
misleading statements, Clinton said.
But the bill does not provide liability protections for
failures that may arise from Year 2000 problems, such as selling
products that do not work.
Several influential groups, including the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the
National Governors' Association have endorsed the bill.
The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)
said it strongly supports the bill.
``Information sharing is critical to expediting the pursuit
of Year 2000 remediation programs, allowing firms to share
information without fear of lawsuits for either the factually
accurate but nevertheless damaging statements or the
inadvertently erroneous statements they make concerning this
unprecedented situation,'' the group said in a statement.
Sen. Bob Bennett, a Utah Republican and co-sponsor of the
legislation, said fast passage of the bill underscored
cooperation by the administration and Congress, but said more
efforts were needed.
``Today's action is an important first step, but that's all
it is. We will aggressively address other vital Y2K demands when
the Congress reconvenes next year,'' Bennett said.
^REUTERS@
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