European Parliament resolution on the Year 2000 Bug in the civil and military sectors
Date: 1999-11-18
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: environmental risk prevention, impact of information technology, industrial hazard, nuclear accident, nuclear safety, systems interconnection

7.7.2000

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 189/229

TEXT PROPOSED
BY THE COMMISSION

Thursday 18 November 1999

AMENDMENTS
BY PARLIAMENT

(Amendment 12)

Article 15(4a) (new)

4a.
No data shall be transferred or made accessible to
the authorities of any third country, nor to any agency
or authority in a Member State other than that which col-
lects the original data referred to in Articles 4 and 8,
except with the express written agreement of the joint
supervisory authorities.

European Parliament legislative resolution on the proposal for a Council regulation concerning the
establishment of ‘Eurodac’ for the comparison of the fingerprints of applicants for asylum and
certain other aliens (COM(1999) 260 . C5-0082/1999 . 1999/0116(CNS))

(Consultation procedure)

The European Parliament,

(cid:21) having regard to the Commission proposal to the Council (COM(1999) 260),

(cid:21) having been consulted by the Council pursuant to Article 63(1)(a) of the EC Treaty (C5-0082/1999),

(cid:21) having regard to Rule 67 of its Rules of Procedure,

(cid:21) having regard to the report of the Committee on Citizens’ Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home
Affairs and the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market (A5-0059/1999);

1.

Approves the Commission proposal as amended;

Calls on the Commission to alter its proposal accordingly, pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC

2.
Treaty;

Calls on the Council to notify Parliament should it intend to depart from the text approved by Parlia-

3.
ment;

Asks to be consulted again should the Council intend to make substantial modifications to the Com-

4.
mission proposal;

5.

Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council and Commission.

6. Millennium bug: military, civilian and nuclear sectors

B5-0268, 0279, 0292 and 0303/1999

European Parliament resolution on the Year 2000 Bug in the civil and military sectors

The European Parliament,

(cid:21) having regard to the responsibilities of the EU in the areas of major accidents and their consequences,
relating to radioactive and chemical pollution, and its role in nuclear safety under the Euratom Treaty,

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Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

7.7.2000

Thursday 18 November 1999

(cid:21) having regard to its resolution of 25 February 1999 on the Year 2000 computer problem (1), which
requested a three-monthly update from the Commission, as well as various reports from the Commi-
ssion (COM(1998) 102; SEC(1998) 2100; COM(1999) 275), and the Council conclusions (2) and reso-
lution of 28 June 1999 (3), as well as the work of the G8 and the IAEA,

(cid:21) having regard to the update given by the Commission on 8 November 1999 to Parliament’s Commit-

tee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy;

A. noting growing concern worldwide that the failure of computers to recognise the year 2000 date
change could affect control systems at nuclear and other environmentally sensitive plants, as well as
off-site electrical supplies from the networks to such plant, in addition to command, control, commu-
nications and intelligence systems of nuclear forces,

B. whereas nuclear power plant safety systems are not generally digitally based, though monitoring sys-
tems normally are, and while the Commission has recognised that enormous progress has been made,
there is also increasing acceptance that it is not feasible to make all such computerised systems year
2000-compliant, resulting in some risk of
infrastructure disruption, and a lack of preparedness
amongst SMEs,

C. noting that as a result, according to respected analysts, there exists a small but unacceptable risk of
serious nuclear or other accidents, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, and the NIS, especially
where nuclear plants use plutonium fuel, and a similar risk of an accidental nuclear war,

D. whereas there are hundreds of operating nuclear plants and research reactors and thousands of other
environment-sensitive plants around the globe, and whereas there are such installations in all EU
Member States, and whereas data errors have caused mishaps and near accidents at nuclear power
stations in the past,

E. whereas date errors and false signals may also affect the nuclear armed forces, with potentially disas-
trous consequences, notably where nuclear weapons are on ‘hair-trigger’ alert, such as in the United
States of America and the Russian Federation, and whereas two EU Member States have nuclear armed
forces which may be affected by Year 2000 computer problems,

F. welcoming the UK Government’s announcement that it has relaxed the notice to fire of its nuclear

forces from minutes to days,

G. noting that in 1996 the Canberra Commission on the Elimination of Nuclear Weapons recommended
that all nuclear forces be taken off hair-trigger alert, preferably by physical separation of the warheads
from delivery vehicles,

H. noting that a number of resolutions in the UN General Assembly, notably Resolution 53/77Y
‘Towards a nuclear weapon-free world: the need for a new agenda’, have called for nuclear forces to
be de-alerted;

1.
Calls on the governments of the states having a nuclear weapon capability to take all the necessary
steps to avoid Year 2000 computer problems leading to the accidental or unintended firing of nuclear
weapons by ‘de-alerting’ those weapons;

Calls on all Member States of the European Union without nuclear weapon capability to make vigor-

2.
ous representations to that effect;

(1) OJ C 153, 1.6.1999, p. 52.
(2) Cardiff, 15/16 June 1998, Items 44 and 45; Vienna, 11/12 December 1998, Items 52 and 53; Cologne, 3/4 June

1999, Item 36.

(3) OJ C 200, 15.7.1999, p. 2.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 189/231

Thursday 18 November 1999

3.
Calls on all governments to instruct the operators of all nuclear or other environment-sensitive plant
not able to verifiably demonstrate their complete Y2K compliance, that such plant must be at least tem-
porarily shut down at the Millennium, and that in any case stand-by electrical power should be available
for up to 60 days at all nuclear plant to operate cooling pumps and safety systems, and longer term back-
up must be provided for spent fuel cooling ponds; suggests that the Council and Commission press all
governments accordingly, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and the NIS, and Turkey;

Reaffirms its abovementioned resolution of 25 February 1999, and notes that in the meantime two

4.
particular problems seem to persist:

(cid:21) the degree of progress in some Member States is not sufficient, which may lead to consequences in

view of existing cross-border global and sectoral levels of integration;

(cid:21) SMEs are more exposed to possible disruption than big international companies and a certain number
of them may be liable to suffer heavy financial consequences if they do not adjust in time, requiring
urgent action by the Commission and national and regional administrations;

Strongly recommends that the Helsinki European Council, to be held just a couple of weeks before
5.
the turn of the century, adopt appropriate measures, and make an awareness statement to European citi-
zens on the precise state of the problem and the potential risks;

Calls on the OECD Members urgently to provide specific resources to Central and Eastern European
6.
countries and the NIS for the purpose of financing alternatives to their nuclear power plants at the Millen-
nium and, in the medium term, to close down those nuclear power plants no longer fulfilling internation-
ally recognised safety standards and to fund alternative sources of energy;

7.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the UN Security
Council, the IAEA and the governments of the Member States, the applicant states and the member states
of the OECD.

7. East Timor

B5-0271, 0273, 0280, 0289, 0299 and 0307/1999

European Parliament resolution on the situation in East Timor

The European Parliament,

(cid:21) having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in East Timor,

(cid:21) having regard to UN Security Council resolution 1264/99,

(cid:21) having regard to the Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union of 21 September

1999,

(cid:21) recalling the Agreement between Indonesia and Portugal on the question of East Timor of 5 May
1999 and the Agreements between the United Nations and the Governments of Indonesia and Portu-
gal of the same date regarding the arrangements for consulting the population of East Timor through
a direct ballot, and the security arrangements agreed in connection therewith,

A. whereas the result of the referendum clearly expressed the wish of the Timorese people for indepen-

dence, with 78,5 % voting in favour,

B. whereas Unamet and the international observers, including the European Parliament and Council dele-

gations, recognized the legality and validity of the referendum,