Time in Falkland Islands and Moldova

Thu Jan 25 06:10:15 UTC 2001

Hi.

I have investigated time in Falkland Islands and Moldova, and have found discrepancies with the current tz database.

Falkland Islands is represented like this in the tz database (2000h):

# Falklands
# Rule	NAME	FROM	TO	TYPE	IN	ON	AT	SAVE	LETTER/S
Rule	Falk	1937	1938	-	Sep	lastSun	0:00	1:00	S
Rule	Falk	1938	1942	-	Mar	Sun>=19	0:00	0	-
Rule	Falk	1939	only	-	Oct	1	0:00	1:00	S
Rule	Falk	1940	1942	-	Sep	lastSun	0:00	1:00	S
Rule	Falk	1943	only	-	Jan	1	0:00	0	-
Rule	Falk	1983	only	-	Sep	lastSun	0:00	1:00	S
Rule	Falk	1984	1985	-	Apr	lastSun	0:00	0	-
Rule	Falk	1984	only	-	Sep	16	0:00	1:00	S
Rule	Falk	1985	1995	-	Sep	Sun>=9	0:00	1:00	S
Rule	Falk	1986	max	-	Apr	Sun>=16	0:00	0	-
Rule	Falk	1996	max	-	Sep	Sun>=8	0:00	1:00	S
# Zone	NAME		GMTOFF	RULES	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
Zone Atlantic/Stanley	-3:51:24 -	LMT	1890
			-3:51:24 -	SMT	1912 Mar 12  # Stanley Mean Time
			-4:00	Falk	FK%sT	1983 May     # Falkland Is Time
			-3:00	Falk	FK%sT	1985 Sep 15
			-4:00	Falk	FK%sT

The rules "Sun>=9" that was later substituted with "Sun>=8", and "Sun>=16", arose my curiosity. The rule "Sun>=9" means the Sunday after the Second Saturday which is pretty awkward to say the least (but possible), and not supported by Windows (which support First, Second, Third, Fourth and Last weekday of a given month). It was replaced in 1996 with the rule "Sun>=8" which means the Second Sunday which *is* supported by Windows. It just so happens that 1996 was the first year in several years back where it would make a difference which rule to use. With the first rule we would get the 15.th. September, while the second rule we would get the 8.th. September.

Similarly looking at the rule "Sun>=16" it means the Sunday after the third Saturday, which is an awkward rule and not supported by Windows. I got the suspicion that it should have been "Sun>=15" instead, which means the third Sunday. It just happens that this gives a difference this year, because using the first rule sets the date to Sunday April 22, while the second rule gives Sunday April 15. I decided to investigate the matter.

I found a page in Internet that is apparently the official Falkland Island governments web page, http://www.falklands.gov.fk/  In the page http://www.falklands.gov.fk/feedback.htm I entered my question about the planned DST for Falkland Islands this year.

The account manager at figo.u-net.com responded me with the following:

===================== Begin Quote ==========================
From: 	General Manager[SMTP:manager at figo.u-net.com]
Sent: 	Lunes 22 de Enero de 2001 7:10
To: 	'jnorgard at Prodigy.Net.mx'
Subject: 	Time Zone INformation

Thank you for contacting Falkland Islands Government.
To help you with your enquiry, we can confirm
the clocks revert back to Local Mean Time at 2 am on Sunday 15
April 2001and advance one hour to summer time at 2 am on Sunday 2
September.

It is anticipated that the clocks will revert back at 2 am
on Sunday 21 April 2002 and advance to summer time at 2 am on Sunday 1
September.

I hope this helps you.  Do contact us again if we can be of further
assistance.

Regards
Falkland Islands Government Office,
London
===================== End Quote ==========================

This valuable peace of information gives us at least three details that doesn't correspond with the tz database:
(1) Start and end time are 2 am in the morning (I assume local time)
(2) My theory about "Sun>=15" instead of "Sun>=16" is apparently correct
(3) The rule "Sun>=8" should actually be "Sun>=1" instead.

I have sent a question about how far back this rule has been used (which will apparently be used in the years 2001 and 2002) but haven't received any answer yet. I will return to you with that information if I get an answer.

Concerning Moldova:
A person contacted me to inquire about if the extra time zone GMT+3 in Moldova for Tiraspol really was correct, since I was the only one he had seen using that. Any other sources he had seen was only using Chisinau GMT+2.

The current information about Moldova in the tz database (2000h):

# Moldova
# Zone	NAME		GMTOFF	RULES	FORMAT	[UNTIL]
Zone	Europe/Chisinau	1:55:20 -	LMT	1880
			1:55	-	CMT	1918 Feb 15 # Chisinau MT
			1:44:24	-	BMT	1931 Jul 24 # Bucharest MT
			2:00	Romania	EE%sT	1940 Aug 15
			2:00	1:00	EEST	1941 Jul 17
			1:00	C-Eur	CE%sT	1944 Aug 24
			3:00	Russia	MSK/MSD	1990
			3:00	-	MSK	1990 May 6
			2:00	-	EET	1991
			2:00	Russia	EE%sT	1992
			2:00	E-Eur	EE%sT	1997
# See Romania commentary for the guessed 1997 transition to EU rules.
			2:00	EU	EE%sT
Zone	Europe/Tiraspol	1:58:32	-	LMT	1880
			1:55	-	CMT	1918 Feb 15 # Chisinau MT
			1:44:24	-	BMT	1931 Jul 24 # Bucharest MT
			2:00	Romania	EE%sT	1940 Aug 15
			2:00	1:00	EEST	1941 Jul 17
			1:00	C-Eur	CE%sT	1944 Aug 24
			3:00	Russia	MSK/MSD	1991 Mar 31 2:00
			2:00	Russia	EE%sT	1992 Jan 19 2:00
			3:00	Russia	MSK/MSD

I decided to check it out with some searches in Internet, but didn't find anything remotely authoritative, but did find some english-speaking persons with e-mail that were apparently living in Tiraspol. I sent mails to 4 persons and got 2 replies:

===================== Begin Quote ==========================
From: 	Moldavizolit[SMTP:moldavizolit at tirastel.md]
Reply To: 	Moldavizolit
Sent: 	Miércoles 24 de Enero de 2001 1:03
To: 	Jesper Nørgaard
Subject: 	Re: Time in Tiraspol

> Hello Jesper Nørgaard !
>
>Tiraspol is on the same time as Chisinau (Kishinev, GMT+2)
> Regards,
>
> Lubov
===================== End Quote ==========================

... and this one
===================== Begin Quote ==========================
From: 	??? ???????????[SMTP:mk at tirastel.md]
Sent: 	Miércoles 24 de Enero de 2001 4:28
To: 	Jesper Nørgaard
Subject: 	Re: Time in Tiraspol

Hello,
Yes, time in Tiraspol is on the same time as Chisinau (Kishinev, GMT+2) 

best ragards
Dmitry Goncharenco
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jesper Nørgaard 
  To: 'mk at mk.tiraspol.net' 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 5:13 AM
  Subject: Time in Tiraspol
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