An official reference for Ukraine

[Paul Eggert]

> From: Igor Karpov <jc at minjust.gov.ua>
> Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 15:41:01 +0200
> 
> BTW, I've found the official document on this matter. It's goverment
> regulations number 509, May 13, 1996. In my poor translation it says:
> "Time in Ukraine is set to second timezone (Kiev time). Each last Sunday
> of March at 3am the time is changing to 4am and each last Sunday of
> October the time at 4am is changing to 3am"

Thanks for this info; I plan to include this as a comment in the next
tz database.

If possible, can you please let me know what happened in Crimea in the
1990s?  We have information from multiple sources that Crimea switched
from Kiev time to Moscow time sometime after the January 1994
elections.  The tz database currently uses the International Air
Transport Association's (IATA) data, which have Crimea switching back
to Kiev time some time between February and September 1997.  However,
if the document that you mention covers all the Ukraine, perhaps we
should assume that Crimea switched back to Kiev time in May 1996
instead.  In the past, I've noticed that the IATA's data can lag
behind real time by several months, so it wouldn't be surprising if
the change actually occurred in 1996.

If you know the exact date and time that the 1996 or 1997 change
occurred in Crimea, can you please let us know at
<tz at elsie.nci.nih.gov>?  Thanks.