Country Y2k Report of the Slovak Republic
to the European Commission

September 24 1999

C o n t e n t s

A Y2k

Sector: Energy

Electricity

The upgrade and testing of systems in the Slovak Electricity Plants (Slovenské elektrárne - SE) will be finished until September 30. The SE have a 50 % production capacity reserve. All power stations will work on a reduced capacity, so that in case of failure in a specific plant the demand can be covered from an other source. Also a permanent conference of dispatchers agreed with Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic will be maintained 8 hours before and 8 hours after midnight from December 31st to January 1st to provide mutual service.

In testing the electricity network system will reach 95 % by September 30. Contingency plans will be ready on September 30 and implemented until November 30. The testing of the invoicing system is going on. The electricity network enterprises are ready to confirm their Y2k preparedness to customers on request.

Taking into consideration all the above mentioned activities no problems in electric energy supply arising from the Y2k problem are expected.

Nuclear power/safety

The Office for Nuclear Supervision of the Slovak Republic (UJD SR) is responsible for nuclear safety using for this purpose its Central Information System (CIS). According to the UJD SR compliance with the Y2k of the Central Information System is taken under appropriate consideration and solutions of an automatic and emergency information system are being developed. At the same time, a contingency plan is being worked out for the case of unpredictable situations.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna checked the state of activities of the Y2k problem in the nuclear power plant of Jaslovské Bohunice in April 26 and 27, 1999. The IAEA will provide a next check in the second half of 1999 and an exchange of information on plans for unpredictable situations and a visit in the power plant will take place as well.

Gas

In order to secure safe operation of all gas systems and institutions the Slovenský Plynárensky Priemysel s. p. - SPP (the Slovak Gas Industry, state enterprise is the Slovak monopolistic gas distributor) is accomplishing a Y2k project. An exact time schedule within the project was defined and all systems are supposed to be risk-free by September 30, 1999. The project should guarantee with a large time span a global ability of all systems of the SPP to work correctly at the beginning of the year 2000.

The main management and technologic systems used for gas transport in inland transport and distribution and/or transit including communication systems were checked and tested already and one can argue that no serious problems in transport and distribution of gas will arise. Alternative solutions and emergency plans will be drawn up in the final phase of the project.

In order to secure gas transit, negotiations with Ruhrgas, Transgason and Ukrgazprom were held. Negotiations with the SE, Nafta Gbely and the Slovak Telecommunications on co-ordination and set up of necessary contingency plans took place in September. The built-in systems in technical departments of inland transport and distribution units were checked and tested. The final testing for compliance with the Y2k will be completed by September 30, 1999.

Oil

Transpetrol Ltd. (a company responsible for pipe-line petrol transport) in collaboration with Compaq elaborated a project on evaluation of the extent of problems in relation to the Y2k. The information infrastructure of Transpetrol was examined for Y2k compliance and on this basis necessary changes in systems and applications were identified together with budgetary needs in order to avoid all risks.

The highest priority defined by Transpetrol is the safe operation of the SAP R/3 system and it’s implemented modules. This system supports mainly all economic activities of the company and its Y2k compliance is secured by its supporting infrastructure.

Slovak central authorities will create sufficient reserves of oil at the end of 1999 to surpass possible short interrupts in supply from Russia.

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Sector: Transport

Railways

The priority of the Railways of the Slovak Republic (ŽSR) are the IRIS-N information system (cargo transport) and the KVC information system (complex passengers' service). Both systems were upgraded and tested in co-operation with other European railways. The only exception is the ticket reservation system for inland passenger transport, which will be finished in short time. Contingency plans are under development and have to be completed until October 15th. A final memorandum on the compliance of all applications with the year 2000 will be signed before October 31st.

All Y2k activities are co-ordinated in frame of the UIC in Paris. The ŽSR have also joined the ˝Y2k Declaration of the European Railways˝ initiated by the German DB Cargo.

The ŽSR declare that they are prepared for the transition into year 2000 and are assuring they will meet their obligations to their customers in both cargo and passenger transport.

Aviation

Management of Fly Operations – the solution of the Y2k problem is part of the overall modernisation of the management of fly operations in Slovakia. The key equipment was tested and controlled by manufacturers. No critical situations are expected. International co-operation is going in the frame of ICAO and IATA

Slovak Airport Management – critical subsystems of the information system for providing service were identified. All key equipment was tested on its compatibility with Y2k. The majority of the systems do comply. Contingency plans will be finished until September 30th. No critical problems are expected.

Road transport

Slovak Roads Management (SSC) – the Y2k is being taken into consideration under the complex reconstruction of the information system for the road management network.

River transport

Slovak Shipping and Harbours – after hardware, software and technological equipment update, systems are in the testing phase. No critical problems are expected.

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Sector: Telecommunication

Telecommunications

The testing of the telephone network infrastructure (i.e. telephone exchanges and transmission devices) will be finished until September 30. The same is valid for testing the information system of the Slovak Telecommunication (ST) company. The testing of all broadcasting devices and of the infrastructure for providing services for the internet has been successfully concluded. The testing of the invoicing system for telecommunication services will be finished until October 31st.

Final plans for emergency situations are supposed to be prepared by the end of October 1999. ST do not expect any failure of telecommunication services in any location.

The Y2k compliance project of the ST was audited by Arthur Andersen company.

Postal services

All key devices and countrywide applications were or are being tested for a reliable rollover into year 2000. The testing is to be finished until the end of September. Based on the tests results contingency plans will be elaborated until the end of October 1999.

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Sector: Water

The final report concluding the negotiations of Ministry of Agriculture and the water supply companies (companies of waterworks and canalisation and Slovak Management of Water Supplies) in May 1999 made it clear that there is no assumption that any difficulties in water supply could arise due to the Y2k. Water supply is not dependent only on a computerised control systems, the whole process can be controlled also by not computerised devices. No emergency situations in agriculture in water supply are expected. All companies in charge of water supply do have alternative possibilities of water supply.

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Sector: Finance

A special project is running at the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS). The schedule of the project foresees that all date-dependent technologies will be Y2k compliant at the latest by September 1999.

In order to provide a safe payment settlement, all national and international settlement systems are tested. The international settlement system SWIFT declares it’s compatibility with the Y2k and recommended to all it’s members - administrators of settlements some technical solutions for the adoption of Y2k solutions. The implementation was done by the National Bank of Slovakia in the first quarter of 1999 and tests did not discover any problems in that area.

The national payment settlement system is provided by the Bankové Zúčtovacie Centrum Slovenska a. s. (the Slovak Clearing Centre, a joint stock company). The Company has finished the testing period of the Slovak banks by the end of June 1999 and compliance with the Y2k was established by the end of July 1999. In the third quarter of 1999 an audit by an international company will take place to check the national settlement system for Y2k compliance.

The compliance with the Y2k of ATMs lies in the responsibility of the Autorizačné Centrum Slovenska, (the Authorisation Centre of Slovakia, a joint stock Company founded by commercial banks in Slovakia). The ACS declares officially full safe operation of plastic cards and ATMs from the first January of 2000.

The compliance with the Y2k in commercial banks and subsidiaries of foreign banks in Slovakia is supervised by the by Bank Supervision of the National Bank of Slovakia. The Y2k compliance of the banks is also supervised by the meetings of the Asociácia Bánk (the Banks’ Association) on regular meetings. A special task force for the millennium date change was established by the banks.

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