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

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

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

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

  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

Categories