Ukraine to Cancel Daylight Saving Time: Parliament Passes Bill

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has supported a draft law on time calculation that cancels seasonal daylight saving time.

This was reported by the Ukrainian branch of BBC.

In autumn, Ukraine will switch to winter time for the last time and stay there. 

The bill is authored by Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk. In his opinion, it is natural for Ukraine to stay on winter time. 

He submitted such a bill back in 2020. In 2021, there were not enough votes to pass it.

‘After the clocks are changed, citizens feel worse, their ability to work decreases, and there is a significant exacerbation of chronic diseases,’ Stefanchuk writes in an explanatory note to his bill.

However, he does not provide any research results or other evidence. 

Time has been changed twice a year in Ukraine since 1981. The tradition of changing clocks in Europe began after the First World War. It was a way to save energy.

Setting back the clocks in the summer made it possible to enjoy daylight longer. Later, this need disappeared, and in the 1970s, during the oil crisis, it became relevant again.

However, the world has long since invented other effective ways to save electricity. According to Czech scientists, daylight saving time can save only 0.34% of electricity.

However, changing the clocks creates a lot of inconvenience for railway workers and air traffic controllers, who have to constantly change flight schedules twice a year.

The EU is also concerned about biorhythms and in 2019 cancelled the mandatory time change for all countries. However, these plans have not yet been implemented. 

Starting in 2021, each EU country can choose whether or not to change the clocks, but most still do. These include Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, and others. 

Japan, China, India, Singapore, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Abkhazia, Azerbaijan, and other countries have refused to switch to daylight saving time. And now Ukraine?