Time Zone Changes in 1998

Hideyuki Suzuki (1998-11-09):

'Tokyo' usually stands for the former location of Tokyo Astronomical
Observatory: 139° 44' 40.90" E (9h 18m 58.727s), 35° 39' 16.0" N.
This data is from 'Rika Nenpyou (Chronological Scientific Tables) 1996'
edited by National Astronomical Observatory of Japan....
JST (Japan Standard Time) has been used since 1888-01-01 00:00 (JST).
The law is enacted on 1886-07-07.

Attached to: Japan (asia)

Hideyuki Suzuki (1998-11-16):

The ordinance No. 51 (1886) established "standard time" in Japan,
which stands for the time on 135° E.
In the ordinance No. 167 (1895), "standard time" was renamed to "central
standard time".  And the same ordinance also established "western standard
time", which stands for the time on 120° E....  But "western standard
time" was abolished in the ordinance No. 529 (1937).  In the ordinance No.
167, there is no mention regarding for what place western standard time is
standard....

I wrote "ordinance" above, but I don't know how to translate.
In Japanese it's "chokurei", which means ordinance from emperor.

Attached to: Japan (asia)

Amos Shapir (1998-02-15):

From 1917 until 1948-05-15, all of Palestine, including the parts now
known as the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, was under British rule.
Therefore the rules given for Israel for that period, apply there too...

The Gaza Strip was under Egyptian rule between 1948-05-15 until 1967-06-05
(except a short occupation by Israel from 1956-11 till 1957-03, but no
time zone was affected then).  It was never formally annexed to Egypt,
though.

The rest of Palestine was under Jordanian rule at that time, formally
annexed in 1950 as the West Bank (and the word "Trans" was dropped from
the country's previous name of "the Hashemite Kingdom of the
Trans-Jordan").  So the rules for Jordan for that time apply.  Major
towns in that area are Nablus (Shchem), El-Halil (Hebron), Ramallah, and
East Jerusalem.

Both areas were occupied by Israel in June 1967, but not annexed (except
for East Jerusalem).  They were on Israel time since then; there might
have been a Military Governor's order about time zones, but I'm not aware
of any (such orders may have been issued semi-annually whenever summer
time was in effect, but maybe the legal aspect of time was just neglected).

The Palestinian Authority was established in 1993, and got hold of most
towns in the West Bank and Gaza by 1995.  I know that in order to
demonstrate...independence, they have been switching to
summer time and back on a different schedule than Israel's, but I don't
know when this was started, or what algorithm is used (most likely the
Jordanian one).

To summarize, the table should probably look something like that:

Area \ when | 1918-1947 | 1948-1967 | 1967-1995 | 1996-
------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Israel      | Zion      | Zion      | Zion      | Zion
West bank   | Zion      | Jordan    | Zion      | Jordan
Gaza        | Zion      | Egypt     | Zion      | Jordan

I guess more info may be available from the PA's web page (if/when they
have one).

Attached to: EgyptAsia (asia)

Eric Ulevik (1998-01-05):

Here are some URLs to Australian time legislation. These URLs are stable,
and should probably be included in the data file. There are probably more
relevant entries in this database.

NSW (including LHI and Broken Hill):
Standard Time Act 1987 (updated 1995-04-04)
https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/sta1987137/index.html
ACT
Standard Time and Summer Time Act 1972
https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/act/consol_act/stasta1972279/index.html
SA
Standard Time Act, 1898
https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/sa/consol_act/sta1898137/index.html

Rives McDow (1998-10-08):

Fiji will introduce DST effective 0200 local time, 1998-11-01
until 0300 local time 1999-02-28.  Each year the DST period will
be from the first Sunday in November until the last Sunday in February.

Joseph S. Myers (1998-01-06):

The legal time in the UK outside of summer time is definitely GMT, not UTC;
see Lord Tanlaw's speech
https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199798/ldhansrd/vo970611/text/70611-10.htm#70611-10_head0
(Lords Hansard 11 June 1997 columns 964 to 976).

Attached to: GB-Eire (europe)

Peter Ilieve (1998-11-04):

The 1998-09-22 Estonian time law
http://trip.rk.ee/cgi-bin/thw?${BASE}=akt&${OOHTML}=rtd&TA=1998&TO=1&AN=1390
refers to the Eighth Directive and cites the association agreement between
the EU and Estonia, ratified by the Estonian law (RT II 1995, 22-27, 120).

I also asked [my relative] whether they use any standard abbreviation
for their standard and summer times. He says no, they use "suveaeg"
(summer time) and "talveaeg" (winter time).

From The Baltic Times <https://www.baltictimes.com/> (1999-09-09)
via Steffen Thorsen:
This year will mark the last time Estonia shifts to summer time,
a council of the ruling coalition announced Sept. 6....
But what this could mean for Estonia's chances of joining the European
Union are still unclear.  In 1994, the EU declared summer time compulsory
for all member states until 2001.  Brussels has yet to decide what to do
after that.

Attached to: Europe/Tallinn (europe)

Markus Kuhn (1998-09-29):

The German time zone web site by the Physikalisch-Technische
Bundesanstalt contains DST information back to 1916.
[See tz-link.html for the URL.]

Attached to: Germany (europe)

Liene Kanepe (1998-09-17):

I asked about this matter Scientific Secretary of the Institute of Astronomy
of The University of Latvia Dr. paed Mr. Ilgonis Vilks. I also searched the
correct data in juridical acts and I found some juridical documents about
changes in the counting of time in Latvia from 1981....

Act No. 35 of the Council of Ministers of Latvian SSR of 1981-01-22 ...
according to the Act No. 925 of the Council of Ministers of USSR of 1980-10-24
...: all year round the time of 2nd time zone + 1 hour, in addition turning
the hands of the clock 1 hour forward on 1 April at 00:00 (GMT 31 March 21:00)
and 1 hour backward on the 1 October at 00:00 (GMT 30 September 20:00).

Act No. 592 of the Council of Ministers of Latvian SSR of 1984-09-24 ...
according to the Act No. 967 of the Council of Ministers of USSR of 1984-09-13
...: all year round the time of 2nd time zone + 1 hour, in addition turning
the hands of the clock 1 hour forward on the last Sunday of March at 02:00
(GMT 23:00 on the previous day) and 1 hour backward on the last Sunday of
September at 03:00 (GMT 23:00 on the previous day).

Act No. 81 of the Council of Ministers of Latvian SSR of 1989-03-22 ...
according to the Act No. 227 of the Council of Ministers of USSR of 1989-03-14
...: since the last Sunday of March 1989 in Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR,
Estonian SSR and Kaliningrad region of Russian Federation all year round the
time of 2nd time zone (Moscow time minus one hour). On the territory of Latvia
transition to summer time is performed on the last Sunday of March at 02:00
(GMT 00:00), turning the hands of the clock 1 hour forward.  The end of
daylight saving time is performed on the last Sunday of September at 03:00
(GMT 00:00), turning the hands of the clock 1 hour backward. Exception is
1989-03-26, when we must not turn the hands of the clock....

The Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia of
1997-01-21 on transition to Summer time ... established the same order of
daylight savings time settings as in the States of the European Union.

Attached to: Latvia (europe)

Marius Gedminas (1998-08-07):

I would like to inform that in this year Lithuanian time zone
(Europe/Vilnius) was changed.

From ELTA No. 972 (2582) (1999-09-29) <http://www.elta.lt/>,
via Steffen Thorsen:
Lithuania has shifted back to the second time zone (GMT plus two hours)
to be valid here starting from October 31,
as decided by the national government on Wednesday....
The Lithuanian government also announced plans to consider a
motion to give up shifting to summer time in spring, as it was
already done by Estonia.

From the Fact File, Lithuanian State Department of Tourism
<http://www.tourism.lt/informa/ff.htm> (2000-03-27):
Local time is GMT+2 hours ..., no daylight saving.

Attached to: Europe/Vilnius (europe)

Rives McDow (1998-10-08):