Daylight saving time in Brazil

Observation of daylight saving time in Brazil

Brazil observed daylight saving time (DST) (called horário de verão – "summer time" – in Portuguese) in the years of 1931–1933, 1949–1953, 1963–1968 and 1985–2019. Initially it applied to the whole country, but from 1988 it applied only to part of the country, usually the southern regions, where DST is more useful due to a larger seasonal variation in daylight duration.[1]

The most recent DST rule specified advancing the time by one hour during the period from 00:00 on the first Sunday in November to 00:00 on the third Sunday in February (postponed by one week if the latter fell on carnival), applicable only to the South, Southeast and Central-West regions. Brazil abolished DST in 2019.[1]

## List of DST observances

[edit]

year | DST start | DST end | areas observing DST

|
|
|

1931–1932 | 3 October 1931 | 1 April 1932 | all of Brazil
1932–1933 | 3 October 1932 | 1 April 1933 | all of Brazil
1949–1950 | 1 December 1949 | 16 April 1950 | all of Brazil
1950–1951 | 1 December 1950 | 1 April 1951 | all of Brazil
1951–1952 | 1 December 1951 | 1 April 1952 | all of Brazil
1952–1953 | 1 December 1952 | 1 March 1953 | all of Brazil
1963–1964 | 23 October 1963 | 1 March 1964 |  | Southeast[a] |
9 December 1963 | all of Brazil
1964–1965 | 31 January 1965 | 1 April 1965 | all of Brazil
1965–1966 | 1 December 1965 | 1 March 1966 | all of Brazil
1966–1967 | 1 November 1966 | 1 March 1967 | all of Brazil
1967–1968 | 1 November 1967 | 1 March 1968 | all of Brazil
1985–1986 | 2 November 1985 | 15 March 1986 | all of Brazil
1986–1987 | 25 October 1986 | 14 February 1987 | all of Brazil
1987–1988 | 25 October 1987 | 7 February 1988 | all of Brazil
1988–1989 | 16 October 1988 | 29 January 1989 | South | Southeast | Central-West | Northeast | TO |
1989–1990 | 15 October 1989 | 11 February 1990 | South | Southeast | Central-West | Northeast | TO |
1990–1991 | 21 October 1990 | 17 February 1991 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |
1991–1992 | 20 October 1991 | 9 February 1992 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |
1992–1993 | 25 October 1992 | 31 January 1993 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |
1993–1994 | 17 October 1993 | 20 February 1994 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |  | AM |
1994–1995 | 16 October 1994 | 19 February 1995 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |
1995–1996 | 15 October 1995 | 11 February 1996 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA | SE | AL |  | TO |
1996–1997 | 6 October 1996 | 16 February 1997 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |  | TO |
1997–1998 | 6 October 1997 | 1 March 1998 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |  | TO |
1998–1999 | 11 October 1998 | 21 February 1999 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |  | TO |
1999–2000 | 3 October 1999 | 27 February 2000 | South | Southeast | Central-West | Northeast | TO |  | RR |
2000–2001 | 8 October 2000 | 15 October 2000 | South | Southeast | Central-West | Northeast | TO |  | RR |
22 October 2000 | BA | SE | AL |  | PB | RN | CE | PI | MA |
18 February 2001 |
2001–2002 | 14 October 2001 | 17 February 2002 | South | Southeast | Central-West | Northeast | TO |
2002–2003 | 3 November 2002 | 16 February 2003 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |  | TO |
2003–2004 | 19 October 2003 | 15 February 2004 | South | Southeast | DF | GO | MS |
2004–2005 | 2 November 2004 | 20 February 2005 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2005–2006 | 16 October 2005 | 19 February 2006 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2006–2007 | 5 November 2006 | 25 February 2007 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2007–2008 | 14 October 2007 | 17 February 2008 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2008–2009 | 19 October 2008 | 15 February 2009 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2009–2010 | 18 October 2009 | 21 February 2010 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2010–2011 | 17 October 2010 | 20 February 2011 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2011–2012 | 16 October 2011 | 26 February 2012 | South | Southeast | Central-West | BA |
2012–2013 | 21 October 2012 | 17 February 2013 | South | Southeast | Central-West |  | TO |
2013–2014 | 20 October 2013 | 16 February 2014 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2014–2015 | 19 October 2014 | 22 February 2015 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2015–2016 | 18 October 2015 | 21 February 2016 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2016–2017 | 16 October 2016 | 19 February 2017 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2017–2018 | 15 October 2017 | 18 February 2018 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
2018–2019 | 4 November 2018 | 17 February 2019 | South | Southeast | Central-West |
states and federal district | RS | SC | PR | SP | RJ | ES | MG | DF | GO | MS | MT | BA | SE | AL | PE | PB | RN | CE | PI | MA | TO | PA | AP | AM | RR | RO | AC
regions | South | Southeast | Central-West | Northeast | North

## Starting and ending dates

[edit]

DST starting and ending dates were variable and determined by decree, often set for only one year at a time. Until 1968, the starting date was usually the first day of November or December, and the ending date was usually the first day of March or April, without regard to the day of the week. In 1985–1987 the dates were Saturdays, and from 1987 they were usually Sundays, typically from October to February.[1]

The dates were sometimes adjusted to avoid conflicts with certain events. In 1997, the DST starting date was set to a Monday due to the Pope's mass on Sunday during his visit to Brazil.[2] In 2002, 2004 and 2006, the starting date was postponed to the first Sunday or holiday in November due to elections in October and technical difficulties in adjusting the internal clocks of electronic voting machines.[3][4][5] In 2007, the DST ending date was postponed to the Sunday after carnival due to the expected economic benefits of observing DST during that holiday.[6]

In 2008, a decree finally fixed the DST schedule for future years, starting on the third Sunday in October and ending on the third Sunday in February, with an exception for postponing the ending date to the following Sunday if the date would otherwise fall on carnival, which occurred in 2012 and 2015.[1][7]

In 2018, the starting date was changed to the first Sunday in November to avoid interfering with elections in October. This time there was no technical difficulty, but a desire to shorten the difference in poll closing times between regions with and without DST.[8] Although it was a permanent change to the DST schedule, it was only observed that year as Brazil abolished DST altogether in 2019.[1]

Time changes were almost always done at midnight. The time was advanced from 00:00 to 01:00 on the DST starting date and reduced from 00:00 on the ending date to 23:00 of the previous day. Exceptions were the first DST starting time in 1931 (11:00) and the ending times in 1950 and 1966 (01:00).[1]

## Regional application

[edit]

Historical observance of daylight saving time in Brazil by state (lighter shades mean more years)

Until 1988, in every year that DST was observed it applied to whole country. In 1963 the Southeast region[a] started DST earlier than the rest of the country.[1]

From 1988, DST was typically limited to the South, Southeast and Central-West regions, and was occasionally extended to some other states such as Bahia and Tocantins.[1] In 2000, DST was extended to all states in the Northeast region but was quickly canceled in most of them due to strong local opposition.[9]

1. ^ a b States existing at that time which would correspond to the Southeast region defined in 1970.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Decrees on daylight saving time in Brazil" (in Portuguese). National Observatory of Brazil. Retrieved 2019-11-25.
2. ^ Daylight saving time ends 15 February, Folha de S.Paulo, 27 August 1997. (in Portuguese)
3. ^ Electoral calendar, Folha de S.Paulo, 17 September 2002. (in Portuguese)
4. ^ Daylight saving time starts on the 2nd of November, Diário do Nordeste, 5 October 2004. (in Portuguese)
5. ^ Elections postpone daylight saving time to November, Chamber of Deputies of Brazil, 1 October 2006. (in Portuguese)
6. ^ Daylight saving time starts at midnight of this Saturday, Syndicate of Retail Commerce of Fuels, Lubricants and Convenience Stores in the State of Rio de Janeiro, 3 November 2006. (in Portuguese)
7. ^ Brazil confirms daylight saving from 2008 onwards, Time and Date, 29 August 2008.
8. ^ Elections change the start of daylight saving time, Agência Brasil, 30 September 2018. (in Portuguese)
9. ^ Decree removes the Northeast, except Bahia, from daylight saving time, Folha de S.Paulo, 17 October 2000. (in Portuguese)

## See also

[edit]

* Time in Brazil
* Daylight saving time by country

* v
* t
* e

Daylight saving time in the Americas

Sovereign
states|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Argentina
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Dependencies
and territories|

* Anguilla
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* Sint Eustatius
* Sint Maarten
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* Turks and Caicos Islands
* U.S. Virgin Islands

* North America
* Central America
* Caribbean
*   *   *   * South America

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