New Zealand Law - Time Act 1974
(With 2007 Changes)

Current as of August 2007.

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New Zealand Standard Time is currently defined in the Time Act 1974 as meaning the 12 hours in advance of Coordinated Universal Time. The Department of Internal Affairs administers the Act.

Daylight Time commences at 2.00am Standard Time on the first Sunday in October each year. It ends at 2.00am Standard Time on the third Sunday in March of the following year.

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New Zealand Standard Time and Daylight Time

New Zealand Standard Time

On 2 November 1868, New Zealand officially adopted a standard time to be observed nationally, and was perhaps the first country to do so. It was based on the longitude 172° 30' East of Greenwich, that is 11 hours 30 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. This standard was known as New Zealand Mean Time.

Greenwich Mean Time was the mean time determined by observation of the sun at longitude measuring 0° east and west at Greenwich Observatory, England, that is Mean Time for the Greenwich Meridian.

In 1884, at an international conference in Washington DC, the Greenwich Meridian was adopted as the prime meridian, with all time reckoned to the longitude east or west of the prime meridian (Greenwich). The development of a system of standard time zones based on 24 meridians each 15 degrees or 1 hour apart as measured from Greenwich, was prompted by the expansion of railroads. Time differences between communities became a critical factor in the running of railroads over great distances such as in Canada and the United States.

In 1928 the term Universal Time (UTO) was adopted internationally as a more appropriate term than Greenwich Mean Time for the basis of an international standard of time. This was again prompted by expansion of rail transport and also shipping and air transport. But the term Greenwich Mean Time persisted in common usage, probably because at first the two were the same.

During the Second World War, clocks were advanced half an hour in New Zealand for the duration of the War, starting in 1941. This advance of time was made permanent in 1946 by the Standard Time Act 1945. The Act provided that the time at the meridian 180°E was adopted as the basis for New Zealand Time. The new Act put into effect New Zealand Standard Time which was permanently half an hour ahead of New Zealand Mean Time as determined in 1868 and 12 hours in advance of Greenwich Mean Time or Universal Time. (The Chatham Islands was 45 minutes in advance of New Zealand Mean Time under the new Act).

In the late 1940s the development of the first atomic clock was announced and several laboratories began atomic time scales. A new time scale known as Co-ordinated Universal Time was adopted internationally in 1972. This was based on the readings of atomic clocks but updated periodically in accordance with time variations in the earth's rotation by the addition or deletion of seconds (called leap seconds). Fifteen leap seconds have been added to our time since 1972.

"New Zealand Standard Time" is currently defined in the Time Act 1974 as meaning the 12 hours in advance of Co-ordinated Universal Time. The Measurements and Standards Laboratory, Industrial Research Ltd (part of the Crown Research Institute), PO Box 31-310, Lower Hutt, co-ordinates time in New Zealand and further information can be obtained from them.

Daylight Time

The Summer Time Act of 1929 provided for Daylight Time to be observed in New Zealand from the second Sunday in October to the third Sunday in March of the following year. Clocks were set half an hour in advance during that time. In 1933 the period was extended from the first Sunday in September to the last Sunday in April of the year following. This continued until World War II when in 1941, the Summer Time period was extended by emergency regulations to cover the whole year. This change was made permanent in 1946 with the Standard Time Act of 1945.

A new Time Act was passed in 1974 which empowered the Governor-General to declare a period which Daylight Time is to be observed by Order in Council. Under the Act, Daylight Time is fixed as a one hour advance on New Zealand Standard Time.

The public response to a trial period of Daylight Time in 1974/75 was generally favourable and the new New Zealand Time Order 1975 fixed period of observance from the last Sunday in October each year to the first Sunday in March of the year following.

In 1985, after 10 years experience with Daylight Time, a comprehensive survey was undertaken by the Department of Internal Affairs. Public attitudes towards Daylight Time and its effects on work, recreation and particular groups of people in society were surveyed. The results of the survey demonstrated that 76.2% of the population wanted Daylight Time either continued or extended.

The survey also concluded that opinion on the topic differed little between sexes, and that support for Daylight Time was generally higher in urban centres. Support for shortening or abolishing Daylight Time was always in the minority in the areas surveyed.

In 1988 as a consequence of the survey and further feedback from the public, the Minister of Internal Affairs arranged for a trial period of extended Daylight Time to be held in 1989/90 from the second Sunday in October to the third Sunday in March. The Minister invited the public to write to him with their views on the five week extension.

Again the public response was generally favourable and a new Daylight Time Order was made in 1990. It declared that Daylight Time would commence at 2.00am Standard Time on the first Sunday in October each year and would cease at 2.00am Standard Time on the third Sunday in March of the following year.

1. Short Title---This Act may be cited as the Time Act 1974.

[2. New Zealand standard time---For the purposes of this Act, and any other Act, the expression ``New Zealand standard time'' means the time 12 hours in advance of Co-ordinated Universal Time.]

This section was substituted for the original s. 2 by s. 2 of the Time Amendment Act 1987.

3. Time for general purposes---Except as provided in section 4 of this Act---

• (a) The time for general purposes in New Zealand, except for the Chatham Islands, shall be New Zealand standard time; and
• b) The time for general purposes in the Chatham Islands shall be 45 minutes in advance of New Zealand standard time.

4. New Zealand daylight time---(1) The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, declare that for such period or periods as may be prescribed in the Order in Council---

• (a) The time for general purposes in New Zealand, except for the Chatham Islands, shall be 1 hour in advance of New Zealand standard time; and
• (b) The time for general purposes in the Chatham Islands shall be 1 hour and 45 minutes in advance of New Zealand standard time.

2) Any period prescribed in any Order in Council made under subsection (1) of this section shall commence at 2 a.m. New Zealand standard time on the day, being a Sunday, specified in the Order in Council, and shall cease at 2 a.m. New Zealand standard time on the day, being a Sunday, specified in the Order in Council or in any subsequent Order in Council.

(3) During any period that the time for general purposes in New Zealand is determined under the foregoing provisions of this section, that time shall be known as New Zealand daylight time.

See S.R. 1975/172.

5. Effect of commencement and cessation of New Zealand daylight time on pay and allowances---(1) Where, by reason of the commencement of New Zealand daylight time on the day specified in any Order in Council made under subsection (1) of section 4 of this Act, the hours worked by any person on that day are less than the hours he would otherwise have worked, the pay and allowances of that person for those hours shall be an amount equal to the amount of the pay and allowances for the hours he would otherwise have worked.

(2) Where, by reason of the cessation of New Zealand daylight time on the day specified in any Order in Council made under subsection (1) of section 4 of this Act, the hours worked by any person on that day are in excess of the hours he would otherwise have worked, the pay and allowances of that person for the excess shall be calculated and paid at the appropriate rates for work performed in excess of normal hours.

6. Reference to point of time in enactments, Orders in Council, etc.---Wherever any reference to a point of time occurs in any enactment, Order in Council, order, regulation, rule, bylaw, deed, notice, or other document whatsoever, the time referred to shall, unless it is otherwise specifically stated, be deemed to be the time for general purposes in New Zealand as determined under section 3 or, as the case may be, section 4 of this Act.

7. Repeals---The Standard Time Act 1945 and the Standard Time Amendment Act 1956 are hereby repealed.

THE TIME AMENDMENT ACT 1987
1987, No. 57

An Act to amend the Time Act 1974

[30 March 1987

1. Short Title---This Act may be cited as the Time Amendment Act 1987, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Time Act 1974 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

2. This section substituted a new section for s. 2 of the principal Act.

The Time Act 1974 is administered in the Department of Internal Affairs.

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On April 30, 2007, New Zealand’s Minister of Internal Affairs announced a three-week extension to Daylight Saving Time. Beginning in 2007, Daylight Saving Time will begin the last Sunday in September and end the first Sunday in April.

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Sources:

Department of Internal Affairs summary and article about time. Time Act of 1974.

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