Millennium Conformity Bill
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A
B I L L
TO
Make provision with respect to the capability of computer systems and other goods and related services to deal with calendar dates after 31st December 1999; to require certain invoices to be paid promptly; to make 31st December 1999 a bank holiday; and for connected purposes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
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| Offences. |
1. - (1) Any company or person who manufactures, produces or sells any goods or provides any service within the meaning of this Act which do not comply with the code of millennium conformity ("the code") shall be guilty of an offence.
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(2) Any company or person who manufactures, produces or sells any goods within the meaning of this Act which comply with the code and who fails to display the code or the words "millennium ready" on those goods shall be guilty of an offence.
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(3) Any company or person who manufactures, produces or sells any goods or provides any service within the meaning of this Act which do not comply with the code and who-
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(a) displays the code or the words "millennium ready" on those goods or in relation to that service, or |
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(b) makes any other claim that the goods or service concerned comply with the code |
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shall be guilty of an offence.
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| Producer, &c., declaration of compliance with the code of millennium conformity. |
2. - (1) Any person or company manufacturing, producing or selling goods or providing services within the meaning of this Act shall provide a declaration in the form set out in Schedule 1 to this Act within 30 days of receipt of a written request for such a declaration.
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(2) A certified copy of any declaration made under subsection (1) above shall be sent to the Secretary of State, who shall make all such copies available for public inspection.
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(3) A person who provides a false, misleading or illegible declaration under this section shall be guilty of an offence.
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| User declaration of compliance with the code of millennium conformity. |
3. - (1) It shall be the duty of every company to provide before 1st October 1999 a declaration of compliance with the code of millennium conformity in the form set out in Schedule 2 to this Act.
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(2) A certified copy of any declaration made under subsection (1) above shall be sent to the Secretary of State, who shall make all such copies available for public inspection.
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(3) A person who provides a false, misleading or illegible declaration under this section shall be guilty of an offence.
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| Embedded systems. |
4. - (1) It shall be the duty of every company possessing or using an embedded system (whether or not capable of employing BM time) with a ceiling lower than 31st December 2099 to register each such system in its asset register.
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(2) It shall be the duty of every company possessing or using an embedded system which is capable of employing BM time to ensure that BM time is employed only when no date-time stamp is required for essential operations and there is no threat to public safety.
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(3) It shall be the duty of every company possessing or using an embedded system which is employing BM time to label each such system accordingly.
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| Winding-up of a company. |
5. Any person who winds up or dissolves any company or who causes a company to be placed in administration or receivership with intent to avoid the provisions of this Act other than section 3 shall be guilty of an offence.
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| Payment of invoices. |
6. All invoices for payment dated earlier than 1st December 1999 shall be paid and the funds cleared no later than 10th December 1999 and it shall be the duty of every company to make provision accordingly.
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| Penalties. |
7. - (1) A person guilty of an offence under this Act shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both.
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(2) Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate is guilty of an offence and liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
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| Bank holiday. |
8. Friday 31st December 1999 shall be a bank holiday throughout the United Kingdom.
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| Waivers and disclaimers. |
9. All waivers and disclaimers from the provisions of this Act shall be null and void.
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| Interpretation. |
10. In this Act-
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"BM time" means an embedded system which reports 2000 AD as 1980 AD, 2001 AD as 1981 AD, and so on; |
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"company" means a company as defined by the Companies Act 1975; |
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"code of millennium conformity" means the British Standards Institute code of millennium conformity (DISC BSI PD2000-1); |
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"embedded system" means a semiconductor chip embedded within a machine; |
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"goods" means any electronic or electrically powered item, computer, computer system, BIOS microchip, real time clock, semiconductor, microcontroller, programming or software; |
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"millennium ready" when applied to goods or to a service within the meaning of this Act means that the said goods or service comply with the code of millennium conformity; |
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"service" means computer programming or any other service provided in relation to any goods within the meaning of this Act. |
| Short title. |
11. This Act may be cited as the Millennium Conformity Act 1998.
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