Title 15 — Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73

§6602 Definitions

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 92— - YEAR 2000 COMPUTER DATE CHANGE › § 6602

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Defines key words used in the chapter. "Y2K action" is a civil lawsuit or contract-appeal claim about harm or claims tied to a real or possible year 2000 computer problem; it includes suits by a government when it is acting as a business or contractor, but not when the government is acting as a regulator or enforcer. "Y2K failure" is when any device, chip, system, or software cannot handle year-2000 date data correctly — for example, switching between 1999 and 2000, recognizing dates in 1999, 2000, or 2001, or treating February 29, 2000 correctly as a leap day. "Government entity" is any federal, state, or local agency or instrumentality. "Material defect" is a flaw that largely stops an item or service from working as designed, but not tiny problems, faults limited to one part while the whole still works, or insignificant effects on service. "Personal injury" is physical harm to a person, including death from that harm and related mental or emotional suffering. "State" includes each State, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, any other U.S. territory or possession, and their political subdivisions. "Contract" covers contracts, tariffs, licenses, and warranties. "Alternative dispute resolution" means non-court ways to settle disputes, such as early neutral evaluation, mediation, minitrial, and arbitration.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §6602

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

In this chapter:

(1)The term “Y2K action”—

(A)means a civil action commenced in any Federal or State court, or an agency board of contract appeal proceeding, in which the plaintiff’s alleged harm or injury arises from or is related to an actual or potential Y2K failure, or a claim or defense arises from or is related to an actual or potential Y2K failure;

(B)includes a civil action commenced in any Federal or State court by a government entity when acting in a commercial or contracting capacity; but

(C)does not include an action brought by a government entity acting in a regulatory, supervisory, or enforcement capacity.

(2)The term “Y2K failure” means failure by any device or system (including any computer system and any microchip or integrated circuit embedded in another device or product), or any software, firmware, or other set or collection of processing instructions to process, to calculate, to compare, to sequence, to display, to store, to transmit, or to receive year-2000 date-related data, including failures—

(A)to deal with or account for transitions or comparisons from, into, and between the years 1999 and 2000 accurately;

(B)to recognize or accurately to process any specific date in 1999, 2000, or 2001; or

(C)accurately to account for the year 2000’s status as a leap year, including recognition and processing of the correct date on February 29, 2000.

(3)The term “government entity” means an agency, instrumentality, or other entity of Federal, State, or local government (including multijurisdictional agencies, instrumentalities, and entities).

(4)The term “material defect” means a defect in any item, whether tangible or intangible, or in the provision of a service, that substantially prevents the item or service from operating or functioning as designed or according to its specifications. The term “material defect” does not include a defect that—

(A)has an insignificant or de minimis effect on the operation or functioning of an item or computer program;

(B)affects only a component of an item or program that, as a whole, substantially operates or functions as designed; or

(C)has an insignificant or de minimis effect on the efficacy of the service provided.

(5)The term “personal injury” means physical injury to a natural person, including—

(A)death as a result of a physical injury; and

(B)mental suffering, emotional distress, or similar injuries suffered by that person in connection with a physical injury.

(6)The term “State” means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and any other territory or possession of the United States, and any political subdivision thereof.

(7)The term “contract” means a contract, tariff, license, or warranty.

(8)The term “alternative dispute resolution” means any process or proceeding, other than adjudication by a court or in an administrative proceeding, to assist in the resolution of issues in controversy, through processes such as early neutral evaluation, mediation, minitrial, and arbitration.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 6602

Title 15 — Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73