TZ changes for Brazil for 2003/2004

[Paul Eggert]

At Sat, 20 Sep 2003 20:18:48 +0200, Oscar van Vlijmen <ovv at hetnet.nl> writes:

> The information in
> http://www.mme.gov.br/noticias/2003/setembro/Nota%20Informativa_HV.pdf
> is a RECOMMENDATION from the Ministry of Mines & Energy.
> Very likely a presidential decree will follow some time later.

Is it plausible that any presidential decree will differ from
<http://www.mme.gov.br/noticias/2003/setembro/18.09.2003.htm>?
I don't know Brazilian politics, unfortunately; nor can I read
Portuguese.  But I don't see anything in that press release that
indicates that it's merely a recommendation, and might change.

> To me it is not clear what the start-ending times are.
> Is there any proof that 0 h wall clock time and 24 h wall clock time are
> used for _all_ time zones?

That's the natural assumption, as it's what seems to have been done in
the past.  I'd expect more-specific language if they wanted all the
clocks to change simultaneously.

> See also decree no. 2784 from 1913 about the definition of the "legal hour".

Sorry, I don't have access to that document.

> There are no DST related decrees after no. 4399 on the presidential decrees
> lists for 2002 and 2003, up to decree no. 4842 from Sept. 18 2003.
>
> http://www.presidencia.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto/Quadros/2002.htm
> http://www.presidencia.gov.br/ccivil_03/decreto/2003/_quadro.htm
>
> I'd suggest: keep watching the latter page!

That's a good suggestion.  But should we hold up on updating the tz
database until after a decree is issued?