19 March 2021, Friday, 18:16 215

Rada Refuses To Cancel Transition To Seasonal Time

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

The Verkhovna Rada has refused to establish and consolidate a single Kyiv time on the territory of Ukraine and cancel further transition to winter and summer time.

A total of 212 Members of Parliament voted for the adoption of draft law No. 4201, with the minimum required 226, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

It was proposed that on the territory of Ukraine the calculation of time should be carried out according to Kyiv time, which is the same for the entire territory of Ukraine.

According to the draft law, Kyiv time is the time zone in which the capital of Ukraine is located - the city of Kyiv, which corresponds to the second time zone in the Coordinated Universal Time scale UTC+2.

Considering that the draft law was supposed to be adopted before March 28, Ukraine should have stayed in the winter time.

According to the document, the order of work of public authorities, local governments, their officials and officials, enterprises, institutions and organizations of all forms of ownership, is determined and established by Kyiv time, which is also established and applied as the only time by which accounting and reporting processes are carried out for the unified transport system of Ukraine and the telecommunications sector.

The explanatory note notes that the establishment and consolidation of a single Kyiv time throughout the territory of Ukraine, without exception, will, in turn, strengthen the security issues of Ukraine's position and contribute to the de-occupation and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories.

Besides, according to the explanatory note, the draft law is aimed at protecting the health of the population, since, according to most scientists and doctors, the specified procedure for calculating time in terms of the annual switch of the clock one hour forward and backward, carries a number of negative consequences, causes a significant deterioration in the health of citizens during the period of adaptation to "summer" and "winter" time.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Illia Neskhodovskyi, the director of the Institute for Socio-Economic Transformation, says that the cancellation of the switch to summer time will negatively affect the economy and lead to an increase in household electricity costs.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal supports the cancellation of the switch to summer time.

On March 3, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis a draft law providing for the consolidation of a single Kyiv time on the territory of Ukraine and a refusal to further switch to summer and winter time.

MPs want to have time to pass a bill on the refusal of the transition to seasonal time in general until March 25, so that Ukraine no longer changes the clock on the night of Saturday, March 27, to Sunday, March 28, as provided in accordance with current legislation.