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Wednesday December 15 2:38 AM ET

NZ to Keep World Informed If Millennium Bug Hits

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand -- the first industrialized nation to see in the New Year -- will keep foreign governments informed if it suffers millennium bug problems, the country's Y2K Readiness Commission said on Wednesday.

New Zealand is seen as an important test case for potential Y2K computer problems because it starts 2000 18 hours ahead of Washington DC, 13 hours ahead of Britain and five hours or so ahead of many of its Asian neighbors.

The Y2K Readiness Commission, an advisory body, said the world would be watching the South Pacific nation of 3.8 million people as clocks strike midnight on December 31.

``We have made arrangements to supply information not only to the New Zealand public and media but also to foreign governments and the world media,'' commission chairman Basil Logan said in a statement.

Foreign companies have already made plans to monitor developments in New Zealand in the so-called ``follow-the-sun'' initiative to get a first glimpse of what might happen in their own markets.

The commission would be issuing information at regular intervals on how New Zealand was progressing, starting from 1:00 a.m. on January 1, (1200 GMT, December 31).

Information on New Zealand's Y2K performance would be posted on the Readiness Commission's Web site www.y2k.govt.nz, Logan said.

The information would also be reproduced on www.iy2kcc.org, the Web site of the Global Status Center set up under the United Nations. That site will also show information on up to 170 other countries.

Logan said New Zealand was ``comparatively well prepared for any possible Y2K interruptions'' but said issues could surface some time after January 1.

The commission has warned that there might be localized interruptions for up to three days in some essential services at any time through to March 31. Computers that are not Y2K-compliant could read 2000 as 1900, resulting in mistakes or shutdowns.

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-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), December 15, 1999.