Daylight saving time in Mexico
Mexico adopted daylight saving time (Spanish: horario de verano) nationwide in 1996, even in its tropical regions, because of its increasing economic ties to the United States. Although the United States changed the schedule for DST beginning in 2007, only the municipalities located less than 20 km from the border have adopted the change. Daylight saving time for Mexico begins the first Sunday of April and ends last Sunday of October; and is usually referred to as the "Summer Schedule" (Horario de Verano).[1]
Overview
The state of Baja California adopted daylight saving time in 1942, due to the state's close ties to the U.S. state of California. This made Baja California the first Mexican state to observe daylight saving time.[2]
The Government of Mexico adopted daylight saving time nationwide in 1996, in order to decrease energy consumption and to facilitate commerce and tourism with the neighboring United States.[3][4]
In December 2009, Congress gave permission to the municipalities located less than 20 kilometers from the US border to synchronize their time to that of their US counterparts, resulting in these municipalities joining and leaving DST at the same time as the United States, relieving some border problems and confusion.[5]
- Matamoros, Tamaulipas
- Reynosa, Tamaulipas
- Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas
- Anáhuac, Nuevo León
- Acuña, Coahuila
- Piedras Negras, Coahuila
- Ojinaga, Chihuahua
- Juárez, Chihuahua
- All of Baja California
Apart from the border municipalities (above), daylight saving time for Mexico begins the first Sunday of April, and ends last Sunday of October.
A bill was proposed by Rep. Francisco Saracho (PRI) in September 2015 to reduce confusion by modifying the aforementioned DST start and end dates, observed by the rest of the country, to match those observed by the border municipalities (above). The bill was discarded by congress on June 29, 2016.
Baja California
The state of Baja California (not Baja California Sur) has observed daylight saving time from several decades ago and until 1996 was the only Mexican state to observe it.[1]
Sonora
The state of Sonora has not observed DST since 1998 because of the non-observance of DST by its neighbor Arizona and its important economic ties with that US state.[1]
Island territories
The Marías Islands and the Revillagigedo Archipelago do not observe DST. The westernmost island of the Revillagigedo Archipelago, Clarion Island, uses UTC−08:00 (PST) all the time.
Quintana Roo
The state of Quintana Roo had decided to not observe DST from February 1, 2015. At the same time, they switched time zone from CST to EST.[6]
References
- "Hora Oficial en los Estados Unidos Mexicanos". Centro Naciona de Metrología. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
- "El Horario de Verano rige en Baja California desde 1942". El Financiero (in Spanish). Notimex. 2013-04-06. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
- "México adelanta los relojes una hora este domingo por el horario de verano". El País (in Spanish). 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
- "Cambio de horario México 2019: qué estados cambian y cuáles no". Milenio (in Spanish). 2019-04-07. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
- "Daylight Saving Time in Mexico". Time Temperature. Retrieved 2014-05-01.
- "New Quintana Roo Time Zone Change Set for February 1". Retrieved 2015-01-22.
External links
- Official web of the Electric Savings Fiduciary (Fideicomiso del Ahorro de Energia) of the Mexican Federal Electricity Commission (in Spanish)