View source for Time in New Zealand

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{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:1em;float: right"
!Time zone||Standard time||Daylight time
|-
|[[New Zealand]]||[[UTC+12:00]]||[[UTC+13:00]]
|-
|[[Chatham Islands]]||[[UTC+12:45]]||[[UTC+13:45]]
|}

'''Time in New Zealand''' is divided by law into two [[standard time|standard]] [[time zone]]s. The main islands use New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), 12 hours in advance of [[Coordinated Universal Time]] (UTC) / [[Military time zone|military]] M (Mike),<ref name="Military Time Zone map">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldtimezone.com/wtz-map-military.html|title=Military time zone chart of the World|website=worldtimezone.com|access-date=22 June 2018}}</ref> while the outlying [[Chatham Islands]] use [[Chatham Standard Time Zone|Chatham Standard Time]] (CHAST), 12 hours 45 minutes in advance of UTC / military M^ (Mike-Three).<ref name="Military Time Zone map"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1974/0039/latest/whole.htm |access-date=2017-07-29 |title=Time Act 1974 |website=New Zealand Legislation |date=1987-03-30}}</ref>

During summer months – from the last Sunday in September until the first Sunday in April – [[daylight saving time]] is observed and clocks are advanced one hour. New Zealand Daylight Time (NZDT) is 13 hours ahead of UTC, and Chatham Daylight Time (CHADT) 13 hours 45 minutes ahead.<ref>{{cite web|title=New Zealand Daylight Time Order 2007 (SR 2007/185) (as at 06 July 2007) – New Zealand Legislation|url=http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/2007/0185/latest/whole.html|website=legislation.govt.nz|access-date=4 May 2017|language=en-NZ}}</ref>

New Zealand's associated states – the [[Cook Islands]] and [[Niue]] – and the dependent territory of [[Tokelau]] use several different time zones at their own discretion.

== History ==
On 2 November 1868, New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally, and was the first country to do so, about fifteen years before any other. Chatham Island was 45 minutes ahead of mainland New Zealand [twelve hours and fifteen minutes ahead of Coordinated Universal Time].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Biswell|first1=Shelly Farr|last2=Nester|first2=Richard|date=Nov–Dec 2007|title=Time|url=https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/time/|journal=New Zealand Geographic|volume=88}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=King|first=Thomas|date=1902|title=On New Zealand Mean Time, and on the Longitude of the Colonial Observatory, Wellington; with a Note on the Universal Time Question|url=http://rsnz.natlib.govt.nz/volume/rsnz_35/rsnz_35_00_005180.html|journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand|volume=35|pages=428–451}}</ref> It was based on [[longitude]] 172° 30′ East of [[Greenwich]], {{frac|11|1|2}} hours ahead of [[Greenwich Mean Time]] (GMT).<ref>{{cite web|year=2011|title=Evening Post — 8 April 1929 — OUR TIME|url=http://www.paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=EP19290408.2.88&srpos=2|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919192028/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19290408.2.88|archive-date=19 September 2018|access-date=24 October 2011|work=paperspast.natlib.govt.nz}}</ref> This standard was known as New Zealand Mean Time (NZMT).<ref>{{cite book|title=Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute (1868)|date=May 1869|page=48|volume=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s6kbAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA48|language=en}}{{void|comment|Fabrickator|Internet Archive Digital Library incorrectly identifies the title as "Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand"}}{{void|comment|Fabrickator|alternate link to this book: https://archive.org/details/transactionsofro68roya/}}</ref>

In 1941, during the Second World War, clocks were advanced half an hour, to reduce electric power use<ref>{{cite news|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GISH19410312.2.112|title=Daylight Saving Extension Proposal - Saving electric power|newspaper=[[Gisborne Herald]] |volume=LXVIII|issue=20502|date=12 March 1941|page=11}}</ref> making New Zealand 12 hours ahead of GMT. This change was made permanent from 1946 by the ''Standard Time Act 1945'',<ref name="DIA">{{cite web|title=Daylight Saving History|url=https://www.dia.govt.nz/Daylight-Saving-History|website=dia.govt.nz|publisher=The Department of Internal Affairs|access-date=4 May 2017|language=en-NZ}}</ref> at which the time at the 180°E meridian was made the basis for New Zealand Time.<ref>{{cite web|title=Standard Time Act 1945 (9 GEO VI 1945 No 15)|url=http://www.nzlii.org/nz/legis/hist_act/sta19459gv1945n15217/|website=nzlii.org|access-date=4 May 2017}}</ref> NZST remained half an hour ahead of NZMT, and the [[Chatham Islands]] 45 minutes ahead of NZST.

[[File:Atomic clock.jpg|thumb|The use of atomic clocks, which can measure time extremely accurately, led to the adoption of UTC. This was incorporated into New Zealand law in 1974.]]
In the late 1940s the [[atomic clock]] was developed and several laboratories began atomic time scales. A new time scale known as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) was adopted internationally in 1972.<ref name="BIPM">{{cite web|title=COORDINATED UNIVERSAL TIME (UTC) (CCTF/09-32)|url=https://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/28435864/working-document-ID-3644/2a6ce17c-7b50-4164-9bee-64f77bfad895|format=PDF|publisher=Bureau International des Poids et Mesures|access-date=5 October 2022|page=3}}</ref> This was based on the readings of atomic clocks, updated periodically in accordance with time variations in the Earth's rotation by the addition or deletion of seconds (called [[leap second]]s). The ''Time Act 1974'' defines New Zealand Standard Time as 12 hours in advance of UTC.<ref name="1974Act">{{cite web|title=Time Act 1974 No 39 (as at 30 March 1987), Public Act Contents – New Zealand Legislation|url=http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1974/0039/latest/DLM412764.html|website=legislation.govt.nz|access-date=4 May 2017|language=en-NZ}}</ref>

In 2011, the New Zealand dependency of Tokelau moved its time zone forward by 24 hours, by skipping 30 December to be in the [[UTC+13:00]] time zone, the same zone as New Zealand daylight saving.<ref name="RNZI_63444">{{cite news|date=29 September 2011|title=Tokelau to follow Samoa on dateline switch|work=[[Radio New Zealand International]]|url=http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=63444|url-status=live|access-date=22 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303030926/http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=63444|archive-date=3 March 2012}}</ref>

== Daylight saving time (DST) ==
Starting in 1909, a member of Parliament, [[Thomas Sidey|Sir Thomas Kay Sidey]] annually put forward a bill to advance the clocks an hour from September to the following March and the ''Summer Time Act 1927'' succeeded.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Olssen |first1=Erik |author1-link=Erik Olssen |title=Sidey, Thomas Kay |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3s15/sidey-thomas-kay |encyclopedia=Dictionary of New Zealand Biography |access-date=5 May 2020 |date=1996}}</ref> In 1927, clocks were advanced by an hour from first Sunday in November to the first Sunday in March. This proved unpopular, so the ''Summer Time Act 1928'' revised this to a ''half''-hour shift from 14 October 1928 (second Sunday) to 17 March 1929 (third Sunday), then the ''Summer Time Act 1929'' permanently fixed this half-hour shift to run from the second Sunday in October to the third Sunday in March every year. In 1933, the period was extended from the last Sunday in September to the last Sunday in April. This continued until the Second World War, when emergency regulations in 1941 extended daylight saving to cover the whole year with annual re-applications until the ''Standard Time Act 1945'' made the abandonment of NZMT permanent in 1946, so that 180° becomes the base longitude and what was called NZ Summer Time (NZST) became NZ Standard Time.

The ''Time Act 1974'' empowered the [[Governor-General of New Zealand|governor-general]] to declare by [[Order in Council]] a period when daylight saving time is to be observed.<ref name="1974Act" /> This was a one-hour shift (on top of the earlier half-hour shift) from the first Sunday in November to the last Sunday in February, promptly changed the next year by The New Zealand Time Order 1975 which fixed the period of observance from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in March.

In 1985 a comprehensive survey was undertaken by the Department of Internal Affairs. Public attitudes towards NZDT (New Zealand Daylight Time) and its effects on work, recreation and particular groups of people in society were surveyed. The survey indicated that 76.2% of the population wanted NZDT either continued or extended.<ref name="Pearce2017">{{cite book|last1=Pearce|first1=Chris|title=The Great Daylight Saving Time Controversy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kpmbDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT357|publisher=Australian eBook Publisher|access-date=4 May 2017|language=en|date=6 April 2017|isbn=9781925516968}}</ref>

[[File:Abaconda leigh farm.jpg|thumb|The strongest opposition to DST has traditionally come from dairy farmers<ref name="ararua time" /> due to disrupted schedules and shorter working times.]]
The survey also concluded that opinion on the topic differed little between sexes, and that support for NZDT was generally higher in [[Urban areas of New Zealand|urban centres]]. Daylight saving was famously opposed in the small [[Northland Region|Northland]] dairy farming community of Ararua,<ref name="ararua time">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/timekeeping/4/3|title=Ararua time|encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]]|access-date=6 February 2010}}</ref> which refused to adjust its clocks for some years. Support for shortening or abolishing NZDT was always in the minority in the areas surveyed.

As a consequence of the survey and further feedback from the public, in 1988 the Minister of Internal Affairs arranged for a trial period of extended NZDT to be held from the second Sunday in October 1989 to the third Sunday in March 1990. The Minister invited the public to write to him with their views on the five-week extension.<ref name="Pearce2017" />

The ''Daylight Time Order 1990'' declared that NZDT would run from 02:00 NZST on the first Sunday in October to 03:00 NZDT on the third Sunday in March.<ref name="DIA" />

On 30 April 2007 the government announced that it had extended the daylight saving period from 24 to 27 weeks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Daylight-Saving-Index?OpenDocument|title=Daylight Saving|date=3 April 2023 |publisher=The Department of Internal Affairs}}</ref> From September 2007, daylight saving is now observed from the last Sunday in September until the first Sunday in April. From 30 April 2007, DST begins at 02:00 NZST on the last Sunday in September each year, and ends at 03:00 NZDT (or 02:00 NZST as defined in the 1974 Act) on the first Sunday in April.

New Zealand time, including DST, is used by several [[Antarctic]] bases that are supplied from New Zealand. This results in the oddity that the [[Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station]] sets its clocks an hour further ahead during the southern summer, when the sun is constantly above the horizon, than in the southern winter, when the sun is constantly below the horizon. The extreme geographic position of the base means that no possible adjustment of the daily activity cycle can have any effect on the amount of sunlight received during those activities. However, the arrangement presumably makes real time communications with New Zealand more practical, particularly in dealing with offices.

The other countries in the [[Realm of New Zealand]] – [[Cook Islands]], [[Niue]], and [[Tokelau]] – do not maintain DST. Two of them are on the other side of the [[International Date Line]] and have 22–24 hours time difference to New Zealand.

The following table lists recent and near future starting and ending dates of daylight saving time in the main islands of New Zealand:

{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! End
! Start
|-
| 2022
| 3 April
| 25 September
|-
| 2023
| 2 April
| 24 September
|-
| 2024
| 7 April
| 29 September
|-
| 2025
| 6 April
| 28 September
|-
| 2026
| 5 April
| 27 September
|-
| 2027
| 4 April
| 26 September
|}

== Standards ==
New Zealand standard time is maintained by the Measurement Standards Laboratory (MSL), part of [[New Zealand Government]]. New Zealand standard time is based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is kept within 200 nanoseconds of the international atomic time scale maintained by the [[International Bureau of Weights and Measures]] in Paris.<ref name="BIPM" />

It is disseminated by various means, including time pips broadcast on [[Radio New Zealand]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Radio New Zealand's pips are being fixed|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2571159/radio-new-zealand's-pips-are-being-fixed|publisher=[[Radio New Zealand]] |access-date=4 May 2017|date=1 October 2013}}</ref> [[speaking clock]] and [[Network Time Protocol]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Time and Frequency Standards Services|url=http://www.measurement.govt.nz/services/time-and-frequency|website=Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand|publisher=MSL|access-date=8 December 2017}}</ref>

==Dependencies and associated states==
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left:1em;float: right"
!Time zone||Standard time||Daylight time
|-
|[[Tokelau]]||colspan=2|[[UTC+13:00]]
|-
|[[Cook Islands]]||colspan=2|[[UTC−10:00]]
|-
|[[Niue]]||colspan=2|[[UTC−11:00]]
|-
|[[Ross Dependency]]||[[UTC+12:00]]||[[UTC+13:00]]
|-
|}

There are two [[associated states]] of New Zealand in the Pacific Ocean, both on the other side of the [[International Date Line]]:
* The [[Cook Islands]] are in the [[UTC−10:00]] time zone or [[Military time|Military]] W (Whiskey)<ref name="Military Time Zone map"/> and do not observe daylight saving time. Clocks in the Cook Islands are 22 or 23 hours behind New Zealand: at noon on Thursday in New Zealand, it is 13:00 or 14:00 on Wednesday in the Cook Islands.
* [[Niue]] is in the [[UTC−11:00]] time zone or Military X (X-ray)<ref name="Military Time Zone map"/> and does not observe daylight saving time. Clocks in Niue are 23 or 24 hours behind New Zealand: at noon on Thursday in New Zealand, it is noon or 1&nbsp;pm on Wednesday in Niue.

The New Zealand dependency of [[Tokelau]] is in the [[UTC+13:00]] time zone<ref>[http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.time.tz/5399 Tokelau in wrong time zone?], Time zone database.</ref> or Military M' (Mike Prime)<ref name="Military Time Zone map"/> and does not observe daylight saving time. Clocks in Tokelau are set to the same time as or 1 hour ahead of New Zealand: at noon on Thursday in New Zealand, it is 12:00 or 13:00 on Thursday in Tokelau.

The [[Ross Dependency]], [[McMurdo Station]] and [[Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station]] in Antarctica maintain NZST/NZDT.<ref>{{cite web|title=Time Zones in Antarctica|url=https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zone/antarctica|access-date=4 May 2017}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [http://msl.irl.cri.nz/ Measurement Standards Laboratory]
* {{statoids|id=tnz|title=Time Zones of New Zealand}}
* [http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Daylight-Saving-Index?OpenDocument Daylight Saving page] from The Department of Internal Affairs.
* [http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/timekeeping ''Timekeeping''] in Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

{{New Zealand topics}}
{{Oceania topic|Time in}}

[[Category:Time in New Zealand| ]]
[[Category:Geography of New Zealand]]
[[Category:Standards of New Zealand]]