Time Zone Changes in 2019

Naoufal Semlali (2019-04-16):

Morocco will be on GMT starting from Sunday, May 5th 2019 at 3am.
The switch to GMT+1 will occur on Sunday, June 9th 2019 at 2am....
http://fr.le360.ma/societe/voici-la-date-du-retour-a-lheure-legale-au-maroc-188222

Attached to: Morocco (africa)

Paul Eggert (2019-07-11):

Unless otherwise specified, the source for data through 1990 is:
Thomas G. Shanks and Rique Pottenger, The International Atlas (6th edition),
San Diego: ACS Publications, Inc. (2003).
Unfortunately this book contains many errors and cites no sources.

Many years ago Gwillim Law wrote that a good source
for time zone data was the International Air Transport
Association's Standard Schedules Information Manual (IATA SSIM),
published semiannually.  Law sent in several helpful summaries
of the IATA's data after 1990.  Except where otherwise noted,
IATA SSIM is the source for entries after 1990.

Another source occasionally used is Edward W. Whitman, World Time Differences,
Whitman Publishing Co, 2 Niagara Av, Ealing, London (undated), which
I found in the UCLA library.

For data circa 1899, a common source is:
Milne J. Civil time. Geogr J. 1899 Feb;13(2):173-94.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1774359

For Russian data circa 1919, a source is:
Byalokoz EL. New Counting of Time in Russia since July 1, 1919.
(See the 'europe' file for a fuller citation.)

The following alphabetic abbreviations appear in these tables
(corrections are welcome):
std  dst
LMT	Local Mean Time
2:00 EET  EEST	Eastern European Time
2:00 IST  IDT	Israel
5:30 IST	India
7:00 WIB	west Indonesia (Waktu Indonesia Barat)
8:00 WITA	central Indonesia (Waktu Indonesia Tengah)
8:00 CST	China
8:00 HKT  HKST	Hong Kong (HKWT* for Winter Time in late 1941)
8:00 PST  PDT*	Philippines
8:30 KST  KDT	Korea when at +0830
9:00 WIT	east Indonesia (Waktu Indonesia Timur)
9:00 JST  JDT	Japan
9:00 KST  KDT	Korea when at +09
*I invented the abbreviations HKWT and PDT; see below.
Otherwise, these tables typically use numeric abbreviations like +03
and +0330 for integer hour and minute UT offsets.  Although earlier
editions invented alphabetic time zone abbreviations for every
offset, this did not reflect common practice.

See the 'europe' file for Russia and Turkey in Asia.

From Guy Harris:
Incorporates data for Singapore from Robert Elz' asia 1.1, as well as
additional information from Tom Yap, Sun Microsystems Intercontinental
Technical Support (including a page from the Official Airline Guide -
Worldwide Edition).

Attached to: EUAsia (asia)

Paul Eggert (2019-07-11):

"Hong Kong winter time" is considered to be daylight saving.
"Hong Kong had adopted daylight saving on June 15 as a wartime measure,
clocks moving forward one hour until October 1, when they would be put back
by just half an hour for 'Hong Kong Winter time', so that daylight saving
operated year round." -- Low Z. The longest day: when wartime Hong Kong
introduced daylight saving. South China Morning Post. 2019-06-28.
https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/short-reads/article/3016281/longest-day-when-wartime-hong-kong-introduced

Attached to: HK (asia)

Alois Treindl (2019-03-06):

http://www.moin.gov.il/Documents/שעון%20קיץ/clock-50-years-7-2014.pdf

Attached to: Zion (asia)

Isaac Starkman (2019-03-06):

Summer time was in that period in 1980 and 1984, see
https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3951073,00.html
You can of course read it in translation.
I checked the local newspapers for that years.
It started on midnight and end at 01.00 am.

Attached to: Zion (asia)

Paul Eggert (2019-03-06):

Also see this thread about the moin.gov.il URL:
https://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2018-November/027194.html

Attached to: Zion (asia)

Even Scharning (2019-03-23):

http://pnn.ps/news/401130
http://palweather.ps/ar/node/50136.html

Attached to: EgyptAsia (asia)

Sharif Mustafa (2019-03-26):

The Palestinian cabinet announced today that the switch to DST will
be on Fri Mar 29th 2019 by advancing the clock by 60 minutes.
http://palestinecabinet.gov.ps/Website/AR/NDecrees/ViewFile.ashx?ID=e54e9ea1-50ee-4137-84df-0d6c78da259b

Attached to: EgyptAsia (asia)

Even Scharning (2019-04-10):

Our source in Palestine said it happened Friday 29 at 00:00 local time....

Attached to: EgyptAsia (asia)

Sharef Mustafa (2019-10-18):

Palestine summer time will end on midnight Oct 26th 2019 ...

Attached to: EgyptAsia (asia)

Paul Eggert (2019-02-19):

The Ho Chi Minh entry suffices for most purposes as it agrees with all of
Vietnam since 1975-06-13.  Presumably clocks often changed in south Vietnam
in the early 1970s as locations changed hands during the war; however the
details are unknown and would likely be too voluminous for this database.

For timestamps in north Vietnam back to 1970 (the tzdb cutoff),
use Asia/Bangkok; see the VN entries in the file zone1970.tab.
For timestamps before 1970, see Asia/Hanoi in the file 'backzone'.

Paul Eggert (2019-08-06):

Today Raymond Kumar reported the Government of Fiji Gazette Supplement No. 27
(2019-08-02) said that Fiji observes DST "commencing at 2.00 am on
Sunday, 10 November 2019 and ending at 3.00 am on Sunday, 12 January 2020."
For now, guess DST from 02:00 the second Sunday in November to 03:00
the first Sunday on or after January 12.  January transitions reportedly
depend on when school terms start.  Although the guess is ad hoc, it matches
transitions planned this year and seems more likely to match future practice
than guessing no DST.

Attached to: Fiji (australasia)

Michael Deckers (2019-08-06):

https://www.laws.gov.fj/LawsAsMade/downloadfile/848

Attached to: Fiji (australasia)

Gilmore Davidson (2019-04-08):

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-08/this-remote-stretch-of-desert-has-its-own-custom-time-zone/10981000
... include[s] a rough description of the geographical boundaries...
"The time zone exists for about 340 kilometres and takes in the tiny
roadhouse communities of Cocklebiddy, Madura, Eucla and Border Village."
... and an indication that the zone has definitely been in existence
since before the 1970 cut-off of the database ...

Paul Eggert (2019-05-17):

That ABC Esperance story by Christien de Garis also says:
Although the Central Western Time Zone is not officially recognised (your
phones won't automatically change), there is a sign instructing you which
way to wind your clocks 45 minutes and scrawled underneath one of them in
Texta is the word: 'Why'?
"Good question," Mr Pike said.
"I don't even know that, and it's been going for over 50 years."

Phake Nick (2019-02-12):

Because their last time change to return to Japanese time when they returned
to Japanese rule was right before 1970, ... per the current tz database
rule, the information doesn't warrant creation of a new timezone for Bonin
Islands itself and is thus as an anecdotal note for interest purpose only.
... [The link mentioned above] described some special timekeeping phenomenon
regarding Marcus island, another remote island currently owned by Japanese
in the same administrative unit as Bonin Islands.  Many reports claim that
the American coastal guard on the American quarter of the island use its own
coastal guard time, and most sources describe the time as UTC+11, being two
hours faster than JST used by some Japanese personnel on the island.  Some
sites describe it as same as Wake Island/Guam time although it would be
incorrect to be same as Guam.  And then in a few Japanese governmental
report from 1980s (from National Institute of Information and Communications
Technology) regarding the construction of VLBI facility on the Marcus
Island, it claimed that there are three time standards being used on the
island at the time which include not just JST (UTC+9) or [US]CG time
(UTC+11) but also a JMSDF time (UTC+10) (Japan Maritime Self-Defense
Force).  Unfortunately there are no other sources that mentioned such time
and there are also no information on things like how the time was used.


Fiji

Howse writes (p 153) that in 1879 the British governor of Fiji
enacted an ordinance standardizing the islands on Antipodean Time
instead of the American system (which was one day behind).

Paul Eggert (2019-08-28):

Transitions before 2015 are from timeanddate.com, which consulted
the Norfolk Island Museum and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's
Norfolk Island station, and found no record of Norfolk observing DST
other than in 1974/5.  See:
https://www.timeanddate.com/time/australia/norfolk-island.html
However, disagree with timeanddate about the 1975-03-02 transition;
timeanddate has 02:00 but 02:00s corresponds to what the NSW law said
(thanks to Michael Deckers).

Norfolk started observing Australian DST in spring 2019.

Kyle Czech (2019-08-13):

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018L01702

Michael Deckers (2019-08-14):

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2019C00010

Palau
See commentary for Micronesia.

Pitcairn

Alois Treindl (2019-07-22):

In 1946 the end of DST was on Monday, 7 October 1946, at 3:00 am.
Shanks had this right.  Source: Die Weltpresse, 5. Oktober 1946, page 5.

Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S

Attached to: Austria (europe)

Michael Deckers (2019-08-25):

The exposition in the web page
https://www.bestor.be/wiki/index.php/Voyager_dans_le_temps._L%E2%80%99introduction_de_la_norme_de_Greenwich_en_Belgique
gives several contemporary sources from which one can conclude that
the switch in Europe/Brussels on 1892-05-01 was from 00:17:30 to 00:00:00.

Attached to: Belgium (europe)

Paul Eggert (2019-08-28):

This quote helps explain the late-1914 situation:
In early November 1914, the Germans imposed the time zone used in central
Europe and forced the inhabitants to set their watches and public clocks
sixty minutes ahead.  Many were reluctant to accept "German time" and
continued to use "Belgian time" among themselves.  Reflecting the spirit of
resistance that arose in the population, a song made fun of this change....
The song ended:
Putting your clock forward
Will but hasten the happy hour
When we kick out the Boches!
See: Pluvinage G. Brussels on German time. Cahiers Bruxellois -
Brusselse Cahiers. 2014;XLVI(1E):15-38.
https://www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-bruxellois-2014-1E-page-15.htm

Entries from 1914 through 1917 are taken from "De tijd in België"
<https://www.astro.oma.be/GENERAL/INFO/nli001a.html>.
Entries from 1918 through 1991 are taken from:
Annuaire de L'Observatoire Royal de Belgique,
Avenue Circulaire, 3, B-1180 BRUXELLES, CLVIIe année, 1991
(Imprimerie HAYEZ, s.p.r.l., Rue Fin, 4, 1080 BRUXELLES, MCMXC),
pp 8-9.
Thanks to Pascal Delmoitie for the 1918/1991 references.
The 1918 rules are listed for completeness; they apply to unoccupied Belgium.
Assume Brussels switched to WET in 1918 when the armistice took effect.

Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S

Attached to: Belgium (europe)

Stephen Trainor (2019-05-06):

http://www.ac-ilsestante.it/MERIDIANE/ora_legale/ORA_LEGALE_ESTIVA_IN_ITALIA.htm
... the [1866] law went into effect on 12 December 1866, rather than
the date of the decree (22 Sep 1866)
https://web.archive.org/web/20070824155341/http://www.iav.it/planetario/didastro/didastro/english.htm
... "In Italy in 1866 there were 6 railway times (Torino, Verona, Firenze,
Roma, Napoli, Palermo). On that year it was decided to unify them, adopting
the average time of Rome (even if this city was not yet part of the
kingdom).  On the 12th December 1866, on the starting of the winter time
table, it took effect in the railways, the post office and the telegraph,
not only for the internal service but also for the public....  Milano set
the public watches on the Rome time on the same day (12th December 1866),
Torino and Bologna on the 1st January 1867, Venezia the 1st May 1880 and the
last city was Cagliari in 1886."

Attached to: Italy (europe)

Luigi Rosa (2019-05-07):

this is the scan of the decree:
http://www.radiomarconi.com/marconi/filopanti/1866c.jpg

Attached to: Italy (europe)

Alois Treindl (2019-07-02):

I spent 6 Euros to buy two archive copies of Il Messaggero, a Roman paper,
for 1 and 2 April 1944.  The edition of 2 April has this note: "Tonight at 2
am, put forward the clock by one hour.  Remember that in the night between
today and Monday the 'ora legale' will come in force again."  That makes it
clear that in Rome the change was on Monday, 3 April 1944 at 2 am.

Attached to: Italy (europe)

Paul Eggert (2019-07-25):

Although Shanks lists 1945-01-01 as the date for transition from
+01/+02 to +02/+03, more likely this is a placeholder.  Guess that
the transition occurred at 1945-04-10 00:00, which is about when
Königsberg surrendered to Soviet troops.  (Thanks to Alois Treindl.)

Attached to: Europe/Kaliningrad (europe)

Alois Treindl (2019-08-12):

http://www.astrolojidergisi.com/yazsaati.htm has researched the time zone
history of Turkey, based on newspaper archives and official documents.

Attached to: Turkey (europe)

Paul Eggert (2019-08-28):

That source (Oya Vulaş, "Türkiye'de Yaz Saati Uygulamaları")
is used for 1940/1972, where it seems more reliable than our other
sources.

Attached to: Turkey (europe)

Kıvanç Yazan (2019-08-12):

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/14539.pdf#page=24
1973-06-03 01:00 -> 02:00, 1973-11-04 02:00 -> 01:00

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/14829.pdf#page=1
1974-03-31 02:00 -> 03:00, 1974-11-03 02:00 -> 01:00

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/15161.pdf#page=1
1975-03-22 02:00 -> 03:00, 1975-11-02 02:00 -> 01:00

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/15535_1.pdf#page=1
1976-03-21 02:00 -> 03:00, 1976-10-31 02:00 -> 01:00

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/15778.pdf#page=5
1977-04-03 02:00 -> 03:00, 1977-10-16 02:00 -> 01:00,
1978-04-02 02:00 -> 03:00 (not applied, see below)
1978-10-15 02:00 -> 01:00 (not applied, see below)
1979-04-01 02:00 -> 03:00 (not applied, see below)
1979-10-14 02:00 -> 01:00 (not applied, see below)

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/16245.pdf#page=17
This cancels the previous decision, and repeats it only for 1978.
1978-04-02 02:00 -> 03:00, 1978-10-15 02:00 -> 01:00
(not applied due to standard TZ change below)

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/16331.pdf#page=3
This decision changes the default longitude for Turkish time zone from 30
degrees East to 45 degrees East.  This means a standard TZ change, from +2
to +3.  This is published & applied on 1978-06-29.  At that time, Turkey was
already on summer time (already on 45E).  Hence, this new law just meant an
"continuous summer time".  Note that this was reversed in a few years.

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/18119_1.pdf#page=1
1983-07-31 02:00 -> 03:00 (note that this jumps TZ to +4)
1983-10-02 02:00 -> 01:00 (back to +3)

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/18561.pdf (page 1 and 34)
At this time, Turkey is still on +3 with no spring-forward on early
1984.  This decision is published on 10/31/1984.  Page 1 declares
the decision of reverting the "default longitude change".  So the
standard time should go back to +3 (30E).  And page 34 explains when
that will happen: 1984-11-01 02:00 -> 01:00.  You can think of this
as "end of continuous summer time, change of standard time zone".

http://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/arsiv/18713.pdf#page=1
1985-04-20 01:00 -> 02:00, 1985-09-28 02:00 -> 01:00

Attached to: Turkey (europe)

Ryan Stanley (2019-01-11):

The community will be changing back on the 20th of this month...

Attached to: America/Juneau (northamerica)

Tim Parenti (2019-01-11):

Per an announcement on the Metlakatla community's official Facebook page, the
"fall back" will be on Sunday 2019-01-20 at 02:00:
https://www.facebook.com/141055983004923/photos/607150969728753/
So they won't be waiting for Alaska to join them on 2019-03-10, but will
rather change their clocks twice in seven weeks.

Attached to: America/Juneau (northamerica)

Alois Treindl (2019-07-09):

The Indianapolis News, Friday 27 October 1967 states that Perry County
returned to CST.  It went again to EST on 27 April 1969, as documented by the
Indianapolis star of Saturday 26 April.
Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER

Attached to: Perry (northamerica)

Michael Deckers (2019-08-06):

From the contemporary source given by Alois Treindl,
the switch in Louisville on 1946-04-28 was on 00:01

Attached to: Louisville (northamerica)

Paul Eggert (2019-08-26):

That source was the Louisville Courier-Journal, 1946-04-27, p 4.
Shanks gives 02:00 for all 20th-century transition times in Louisville.
Evidently this is wrong for spring 1946.  Although also likely wrong
for other dates, we have no data.

Part of Kentucky left its clocks alone in 1974.
This also includes Clark, Floyd, and Harrison counties in Indiana.
Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER

Attached to: Louisville (northamerica)

Paul Eggert (2019-07-06):

Due to a complicated set of legal maneuvers, in 1967 Michigan did
not start daylight saving time when the rest of the US did.
Instead, it began DST on Jun 14 at 00:01.  This was big news:
the Detroit Free Press reported it at the top of Page 1 on
1967-06-14, in an article "State Adjusting to Switch to Fast Time"
by Gary Blonston, above an article about Thurgood Marshall's
confirmation to the US Supreme Court.  Although Shanks says Detroit
observed DST until 1967-10-29 00:01, that time of day seems to be
incorrect, as the Free Press later said DST ended in Michigan at the
same time as the rest of the US.  Also, although Shanks reports no DST in
Detroit in 1968, it did observe DST that year; in the November 1968
election Michigan voters narrowly repealed DST, effective 1969.

Most of Michigan observed DST from 1973 on, but was a bit late in 1975.
Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	-	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER

Attached to: Detroit (northamerica)

Paul Eggert (2019-07-25):

Pearce's book says Regina observed DST in 1914-1917.  No dates and times,
unfortunately.  It also says that in 1914 Saskatoon observed DST
from 1 June to 6 July, and that DST was also tried out in Davidson,
Melfort, and Prince Albert.

Attached to: Regina (northamerica)

Alois Treindl (2019-07-19):

There was no DST in Alberta in 1967... Calgary Herald, 29 April 1967.
1969, no DST, from Edmonton Journal 18 April 1969

Attached to: Edm (northamerica)

Paul Eggert (2019-07-25):

Pearce's book says that Alberta's 1948 Daylight Saving Act required
Mountain Standard Time without DST, and that "anyone who broke that law
could be fined up to $25 and costs".  There seems to be no record of
anybody paying the fine.  The law was not changed until an August 1971
plebiscite reinstituted DST in 1972.  This story is also mentioned in:
Boyer JP. Forcing Choice: The Risky Reward of Referendums. Dundum. 2017.
ISBN 978-1459739123.

Attached to: Edm (northamerica)

Paul Eggert (2019-07-25):

Shanks says Fort Nelson did not observe DST in 1946, unlike Vancouver.
Alois Treindl confirmed this on 07-22, citing the 1946-04-27 Vancouver Daily
Province.  He also cited the 1946-09-28 Victoria Daily Times, which said
that Vancouver, Victoria, etc. "change at midnight Saturday"; for now,
guess they meant 02:00 Sunday since 02:00 was common practice in Vancouver.

Early Vancouver, Volume Four, by Major J.S. Matthews, V.D., 2011 edition
says that a 1922 plebiscite adopted DST, but a 1923 plebiscite rejected it.
http://former.vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/archives/digitized/EarlyVan/SearchEarlyVan/Vol4pdf/MatthewsEarlyVancouverVol4_DaylightSavings.pdf
A catalog entry for a newspaper clipping seems to indicate that Vancouver
observed DST in 1941 from 07-07 through 09-27; see
https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/daylight-saving-1918-starts-again-july-7-1941-start-d-s-sept-27-end-of-d-s-1941
We have no further details, so omit them for now.

Attached to: Vanc (northamerica)

Steffen Thorsen (2019-04-05):

According to multiple sources the Brazilian president wants to get rid of DST.
https://gmconline.com.br/noticias/politica/bolsonaro-horario-de-verao-deve-acabar-este-ano
https://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2019/04/05/governo-anuncia-fim-do-horario-de-verao.ghtml

Attached to: America/Noronha (southamerica)

Marcus Diniz (2019-04-25):

Brazil no longer has DST changes - decree signed today
https://g1.globo.com/politica/noticia/2019/04/25/bolsonaro-assina-decreto-que-acaba-com-o-horario-de-verao.ghtml

Attached to: America/Noronha (southamerica)

Daniel Soares de Oliveira (2019-04-26):

http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_Ato2019-2022/2019/Decreto/D9772.htm

Zone	NAME		STDOFF	RULES	FORMAT	[UNTIL]

Fernando de Noronha (administratively part of PE)

Attached to: America/Noronha (southamerica)

Paul Eggert (2019-08-26):

See Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh for the source for most of rest of this data.

Attached to: Asia/Phnom_Penh (backzone)

Alois Treindl (2019-07-04):

I was able to access the online archive of the Vaduz paper Vaterland ...
I could confirm from the paper that Liechtenstein did in fact follow
the same DST in 1941 and 1942 as Switzerland did.

Attached to: Europe/Vaduz (backzone)