Germany afraid of import impact

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Germany fears oil impact of Y2K-report

April 20, 1999

Web posted at: 6:51 AM EDT (1051 GMT)

BERLIN (Reuters) -- The German government fears disruption caused by the millennium bug computer problem could affect hospitals and Germany's oil supply, the daily Berliner Zeitung newspaper said on Tuesday.

The newspaper said ministers believed that industry and the defense and power plant networks were well-prepared for the problem. But it quoted a report by the Interior and Economics ministries warning of potential problems at hospitals and with the delivery of oil from abroad.

An Interior Ministry spokesman declined to comment in detail on the report, but confirmed its existence and said that it would lay out an assessment of problems which the millennium bug presented for Germany and plans to address them.

The millennium bug problem arises because many older computers record dates using only the last two digits of the year. If left uncorrected, systems could read the year 2000 as 1900, generating errors or system crashes.

Copyright 1999 Reuters. All rights reserved.

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-- (trend@watcher.now), April 20, 1999


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