Advisory: Russia decides to make time zone changes in several regions

The Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia plans to make time zone changes in several regions so they won’t return to summer time this sping.

 

The draft resolutions are posted at:

    <www.minprom.gov.ru/docs/ce/42>
    <www.minprom.gov.ru/docs/ce/41>
    <www.minprom.gov.ru/docs/ce/38>

 

The resolutions announced by the government of Russia are effective  at 2 AM on March 28, 2010.  These changes are:
    • Samara region will apply time zone of UTC+3
    • Kemerovo region will apply time zone of UTC+6
    • Kamchatka region will apply time zone of UTC+11

 

Customers in these regions can take the following actions to maintain accurate time in their machines:

    • Samara region can switch their computers to the “Russian Standard Time” with the display name of “(UTC+03:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd”.
    • Kemerovo region can switch their computers to the “N. Central Asia Standard Time” with the display name of “(UTC+06:00) Novosibirsk”
    • Kamchatka region can switch their computers to the “Central Pacific Standard Time” with the display name of “(UTC+11:00) Magadan, Solomon Is., New Caledonia”

 

Microsoft's product teams are moving to a regular rhythm to update their products and services to reflect these time changes. For each update release, Microsoft accepts change requests at up to a few months prior to the release date.   Please refer to Microsoft's Policy in Response to DST/TZ Requests, providing recommendations in order to achieve more seamless transitions to new DST and time zones policies. We suggest that governments should provide the following when considering changing DST or making adjustments to time zones:

1.    Ample advance notice (1 year or more) of the planned change.
2.    Official published confirmation of planned changes to DST or time zones.
3.    Concentrated efforts on promoting the change to the affected citizens.
 
Important notes for governments:
 
    * Please refer to Microsoft's Policy in Response to DST/TZ Requests. It's important for countries and territories to work towards seamless transitions to new DST and time zones policies, providing ample advance notice (of a year or more) with published confirmation of planned changes.