Companies sign up for Y2K legal plan

SUPPLIERS will get temporary reprieve from millennium bug-related law suits under a scheme launched this week.

The Millennium Moratorium was devised by law firm Tarlo Lyons. It is a binding means for a company to delay legal action against a supplier, while retaining the right to do so in the future.

In return, the supplier passes year 2000 compliance information to its customer, knowing that it will not be sued at the time of disclosure.

John Mawhood, partner at Tarlo Lyons, said: ?We are trying to avoid situations where business feel obliged to make a legal claim on their suppliers because a maintenance period is about to end.?

The effort, which is being promoted by Action 2000, is part of a campaign to avoid an explosion of year 2000-related litigation.

The government did its bit to defuse the millennium bug litigation bomb this week by signing Pledge 2000, under which businesses agreed to avoid taking legal action against suppliers in return for year 2000 information. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott signed the pledge on behalf of the government.

Tarlo Lyons will provide the Millennium Moratorium service for free.

The moratorium will be published for businesses to use directly, if required. Tarlo Lyons can be reached on (0171) 405 2000.