[tz] Possible error in Europe/Kiev for 1991 - 1992

Alois Treindl alois at astro.ch
Fri Feb 28 15:27:12 UTC 2014


In western and Ukrainian astrology circles, there is on ongoing dispute 
about which timezone was in force in Kiev/Ukraine on the date the 
parliament decided about its independence, on 24 August 1991.

Mostly, a timezone of GMT +3h is considered correct.

This is in conflict with what TZ database states for that date.

TZ database holds:
# Most of Ukraine since 1970 has been like Kiev.
Zone Europe/Kiev        2:02:04 -       LMT     1880
                         2:02:04 -       KMT     1924 May  2 # KievMTime
                         2:00    -       EET     1930 Jun 21
                         3:00    -       MSK     1941 Sep 20
                         1:00    C-Eur   CE%sT   1943 Nov  6
                         3:00    Russia  MSK/MSD 1990
                         3:00    -       MSK     1990 Jul  1 2:00
                         2:00    -       EET     1992
                         2:00    E-Eur   EE%sT   1995
                         2:00    EU      EE%sT

Which makes reference to these DST rules
#DST rules for Russia after WW2
Rule   Russia  1981    1984    -       Apr      1       0:00   1:00    S
Rule   Russia  1981    1983    -       Oct      1       0:00   0       -
Rule   Russia  1984    1991    -       Sep     lastSun  2:00s  0       -
Rule   Russia  1985    1991    -       Mar     lastSun  2:00s  1:00    S
Rule   Russia  1992    only    -       Mar     lastSat  23:00  1:00    S
Rule   Russia  1992    only    -       Sep     lastSat  23:00  0       -
Rule   Russia  1993    2010    -       Mar     lastSun  2:00s  1:00    S
Rule   Russia  1993    1995    -       Sep     lastSun  2:00s  0       -
Rule   Russia  1996    2010    -       Oct     lastSun  2:00s  0       -

#Modern EU rules
Rule   EU      1981    max     -       Mar     lastSun  1:00u  1:00    S
Rule   EU      1996    max     -       Oct     lastSun  1:00u  0       -

# E-Eur differs from EU only in that E-Eur switches at midnight local time.
Rule   E-Eur   1977    1980    -       Apr     Sun>=1   0:00   1:00    S
Rule   E-Eur   1977    only    -       Sep     lastSun  0:00   0       -
Rule   E-Eur   1978    only    -       Oct      1       0:00   0       -
Rule   E-Eur   1979    1995    -       Sep     lastSun  0:00   0       -
Rule   E-Eur   1981    max     -       Mar     lastSun  0:00   1:00    S
Rule   E-Eur   1996    max     -       Oct     lastSun  0:00   0       -

This gives for the transition years 1990/1991/1992 the following:
- Kiev (and most of Ukraine) started the year 1990 with Moscow time (3he).
- It did not apply DST on last Sunday of March 1990, like Russia did.
- It went from 3he to 2he on 1st July 1990.
- It had no DST during 1991, i.e. it was the whole year on 2he.
- It stayed on 2he until last sunday in March 1992, when it turned on 
DST according the the E-Eur rules.

Via my US colleage David Cochrane, I received copies from a Moscow 
fellow, first name Vladimir, who reported several government documents, 
refering to Ukrainia timezones.

Vladimir writes:
--- quote
Good news that now we have more documents online in Ukrainian language 
as well as Google translator.

 > why this decree states to go off DST when DST was not observed in 
Kiev in 1991.

I did a research in laws and now we have an answer.
Unfortunately, we should change a little our DST tables for Kiev and 
Ukraine.

First in Ukraine they changed Time zone from UTC+3 to UTC+2 with DST:
       03 25 1990 02:00 -03.00 1       Time Zone 3 with DST
       07 01 1990 02:00 -02.00 1       Time Zone 2 with DST
* Ukrainian Government's Resolution of 18.06.1990, No. 134.
http://search.ligazakon.ua/l_doc2.nsf/link1/T001500.html

They did not end DST in September, 1990 (according to the law, "summer 
time" was still in action):
       09 30 1990 03:00 -02.00 1       Time Zone 2 with DST
* Ukrainian Government's Resolution of 21.09.1990, No. 272.
http://search.ligazakon.ua/l_doc2.nsf/link1/KP900272.html

Again no change in March, 1991 ("summer time" in action):
       03 31 1991 02:00 -02.00 1       Time Zone 2 with DST

DST ended in September 1991 ("summer time" ended):
       09 29 1991 03:00 -02.00 0       Time Zone 2, no DST
* Ukrainian Government's Resolution of 25.09.1991, No. 225.
http://www.uazakon.com/documents/date_21/pg_iwgdoc.htm
This is an answer.

Since 1992 they had normal DST procedure:
       03 29 1992 02:00 -02.00 1       DST started
       09 27 1992 03:00 -02.00 0       DST ended
* Ukrainian Government's Resolution of 20.03.1992, No. 139.
http://www.uazakon.com/documents/date_8u/pg_grcasa.htm
------ end quote

I (Alois) interpret him like this:
- On 1 Jan 1990, Kiev was on GMT + 3h (I call this 3he, 3 hours east).
- on 25 March 1990, at 02:00 am, it went to DST, i.e. to 4he
- on 1 July 1990, at 2:00 am, it shifted the standard time, kept the DST,
   moving effectively from 4he to 3he
- no change on 30 Sept 1990, the kept DST, i.e. stayed on 3he
   (Russia ended DST on that data)
- no change on 31 March 1991, Kiev stayed on 3he
   (Russia began DST on that data)
- on 29 Sept 1991, at 03:00 am, Kiev ended DST, went to 2he
- on 29 March 1992, 2:00 am, Kiev started DST, went to 3he
- on 27 Sept 1992, 2:00 am, Kiev ended DST, went to 2he

I have used Google translation to get the content of the links Vladimir 
provides:

A) http://search.ligazakon.ua/l_doc2.nsf/link1/T001500.html
" Set on 1 July 1990 in the Ukrainian SSR, the second time zone with the 
addition of one hour."
This page says that Ukraine adopted 2he as standard time on 1 July 1990.
One could interpret this that it talks about the timezone being 2he plus 
one hour.
But I do not think it does.  I think it means:
Standard time moved to 2he, the clock was shifted west by one hour, i.e. 
one hour was added in the course of transition.
(from h3e to h2e, if DST was not in force, or from h4e to h3e, if DST 
was in force).
The statement does not confirm whether DST was in force or not at that data.

B) http://search.ligazakon.ua/l_doc2.nsf/link1/KP900272.html
states that on 30 Sept 1990, Ukraine did not turn clocks back, but 
continues to use DST.
This implies that DST was indeed in force, at that time.

C) http://www.uazakon.com/documents/date_21/pg_iwgdoc.htm
states that on 29 September 1991, DST was ended and clocks set back by 
one hour.

My conclusion is:
TZ database missed the onset of DST in March 1990, and in consequence, 
missed its end in September 1991.

The goverment document C) clearly states that DST ended in Ukraine
on 29 Sept 1991, a date when TZ database says that DTS was not in force.

I propose this correction of Europe/Kiev
Zone Europe/Kiev        2:02:04 -       LMT     1880
                         2:02:04 -       KMT     1924 May  2 # KievMTime
                         2:00    -       EET     1930 Jun 21
                         3:00    -       MSK     1941 Sep 20
                         1:00    C-Eur   CE%sT   1943 Nov  6
                         3:00    Russia  MSK/MSD 1990 Jul 1 2:00
                         2:00    1:00    EET     1991 Sep 29 3:00
                         2:00    E-Eur   EE%sT   1995
                         2:00    EU      EE%sT


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