Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 113 Part 1.djvu/209

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PUBLIC LAW 106-37 -^JULY 20, 1999 113 STAT. 185 Public Law 106-37 106th Congress An Act To establish certain procedures for civil actions brought for damages relating to T19nIQQQ the failure of any device or system to process or otherwise deal with the transition —Hi—'. from the year 1999 to the year 2000, and for other purposes. [H.R. 775] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, Y2KAct. SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF SECTIONS. (a) SHORT TITLE. — This Act may be cited as the 'T2K Act". 15 USC 6601 (b) TABLE OF SECTIONS.— The table of sections for this Act note. is as follows: Sec. 1. Short title; table of sections. Sec. 2. Findings and purposes. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. Application of Act. Sec. 5. Punitive damages limitations. Sec. 6. Proportionate liability. Sec. 7. Prelitigation notice. Sec. 8. Pleading requirements. Sec. 9. Duty to mitigate. Sec. 10. Application of existing impossibility or commercial impracticability doctrines. Sec. 11. Damages limitation by contract. Sec. 12. Damages in tort claims. Sec. 13. State of mind; bystander liability; control. Sec. 14. Appointment of special masters or magistrate judges for Y2K actions. Sec. 15. Y2K actions as class actions. Sec. 16. Applicability of State law. Sec. 17. Admissible evidence ultimate issue in State courts. Sec. 18. Suspension of penalties for certain year 2000 failures by small business concerns. SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 15 USC 6601. (a) FINDINGS. — The Congress finds the following: (1)(A) Many information technology systems, devices, and programs are not capable of recognizing certain dates in 1999 and after December 31, 1999, and will read dates in the year 2000 and thereafter as if those dates represent the year 1900 or thereafter or will fail to process dates after December 31, 1999. (B) If not corrected, the problem described in subparagraph (A) and resulting failures could incapacitate systems that are essential to the functioning of markets, commerce, consumer products, utilities, Government, and safety and defense systems, in the United States and throughout the world. (2) It is in the national interest that producers and users of technology products concentrate their attention and resources in the time remaining before January 1, 2000, on assessing, fixing, testing, and developing contingency plans to address