WRITTEN QUESTION No. 423/98 by Graham WATSON to the Commission. The Millenium Bug (SUPPLEMENTARY ANSWER)
Date: 1998-02-24
Institutions: European Parliament, WATSON
Subjects: European Central Bank, European Monetary Institute, European Monetary System, European accounting system, banking system, communications systems, financial institution

21. 10. 98

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 323/37

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(14 April 1998)

The Commission believes that the Community rules relating to groundhandling services and, consequently the
national regulations implementing Directive No 96/67/EC, do not apply to the services to which a reference is
made, if they are provided by the air traffic authority. However, it is necessary for national regulations to reflect
the provisions of the Directive by including a reference to these specific services, not only for application in case
of a change in the provider, but also to allow the users a right of appeal if they are not convinced of the identity of
the supplier.

In compliance with Article 23 of the Directive, the Commission is informed of the provisions of national law
which are adopted by Member States in the field covered by the Directive and therefore has the possibility to
guarantee  uniform  implementation  of  Community  rules  if  necessary  by  using  the  procedure  foreseen  under
Article 169 of the EC Treaty. However, the prime responsability for ensuring the application of those rules, once
implemented at national level, is with Member States.

(98/C 323/46)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0423/98

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(24 February 1998)

Subject: The Millenium Bug

What work has been done to ensure that the European Central Bank will be millenium bug compliant?

Supplementary answer
given by Mr de Silguy on behalf of the Commission

(8 May 1998)

According  to  information  received  from  the  European  monetary  institute  (EMI)  (as  the  pre-cursor  to  the
European central bank (ECB)), this institute is building the systems that will be used by the ECB.

In that it is a new institution with very few legacy systems, which are the main cause for concern with regard to
year 2000 compliance, the EMI is in a different position to that of the majority of financial institutions across
Europe. Nonetheless, the EMI has taken the potential problem of year 2000 compliance extremely seriously. To
this end it has started a project encompassing five major phases; inventorising current systems and applications,
analysis of level of current compliance, installation of fixes etc leading to certification of year 2000 compliance,
testing  on  an  individual  and  integrated  system  basis,  and  monitoring  of  the  situation  to  ensure  continued
compliance. The completion of this project will result in the assurance that both the internal systems of the future
ECB, and the systems to facilitate communications within the European system of central banks (ESCB), are
compliant with the requirement of year 2000.

The EMI(cid:146)s year 2000 compliance project is progressing on schedule. Given the systematic approach taken, and
the continuing work on the compliance issues, the future ECB will be fully (cid:145)millenium compliant(cid:146) by the required
date.

(98/C 323/47)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0442/98

by Ian Paisley (NI) to the Commission

(27 February 1998)

Subject: Aid to farmers

Can the Commission give details of the amount of European grant aid given to farmers in the Irish Republic to
help them diversify from traditional farming methods into greyhound breeding?