April 1999
Ministry of International Trade and Industry

;Questionnaires were sent via industry organizations to 4,043 manufacturers and distributors of computers, software and microcomputer-equipped devices (referred to below as �gvendors�h) in 28 categories (Note 1). In a survey of the responses on March 1, 1999, responses had been received from 1,677 companies (a response rate of 41%), and the findings can be summarized as follows.

(Note 1);In this survey, two extra business types have been added: "commercial kitchen equipment" and "gas and kerosene appliances". Also, the category "automobiles, parts etc." which appeared in the previous survey has been subdivided to "automobiles, parts", "industrial vehicles, transportation equipment and engines", and "automotive service machinery and equipment". The "computer entertainment software" category has been dropped from the survey.

1. Awareness among companies of whether their products require preparation for Y2K compliance

(1)Compared with the previous survey, the level of awareness has steadily advanced in principal, and most companies responded that they had ascertained the need for measures for Y2K compliance in �gAll of our products�h or �g3/4 or more or our products�h. It is important for companies to complete ascertaining quickly the need for Y2K compliance measures in all of their products.

(2)Regarding the necessity of Y2K compliance measures for their products, manufacturers in the three fields of �ghome electrical equipment (�gwhite goods�h), �gindustrial vehicles, transportation equipment and engines�h and �gtoys�h did not respond that their products required such measures (Note 2). On the other hand, in the fields of �gcomputers, peripheral devices�h, �gradio communication equipment�h, �gbusiness machine�h, �gplant engineering�h, �genvironmental equipment�h, �gsemiconductor manufacturing equipment�h and �gweighting , measurement analysis equipment�h, over 60% of companies responded that some of their products require Y2K compliance measures.

(Note 2);The products in the "automobile, parts" section which need to be Y2K compliant are operation management systems for freight vehicles. These products do not actually control the motion of the vehicles.

2.;Provision of information by companies to users on whether or not their products require Y2K compliance measures

(1);The provision of information (notification) to individual users in cases where the users can be identified is considerably more advanced than it was at the time of the previous survey. Of 25 business types which must notify users, around 70% of companies in 15 of those business types have already reached 75~100% of their users. In future we will encourage much faster delivery of information from vendors to users.
;There are some companies which have no plans to notify their users, but they take this position because the product concerned is delivered to the final product manufacturer on the basis of that manufacturer's specification, and therefore the supplier responds to individual enquiries from those manufacturers and others.

(2);Considerable progress is evident in companies' efforts to provide information to the general public through home pages on the Internet and other channels. In particular, in the fields of "computers and their peripherals", "electrical control equipment", "electronic measurement devices", "communications equipment", "civil electronic equipment" and "office equipment", a majority of companies are providing information over the Internet. However, in fields such as "computer software", "plant engineering", "environmental devices", "printing equipment", "semiconductor manufacturing equipment" and "business kitchen equipment", it is often possible to identify individual users. Therefore companies notify users directly, and the proportion using channels such as the Internet to deliver information to the general public is relatively low.
As for the cases where users can be identified, we will encourage vendors to move faster to provide information to users in the general public.