Cancellation of the transition to “winter” and “summer” time: Rada unblocks signing of the law

The Verkhovna Rada has unblocked the signing of a bill by Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk to cancel daylight saving time in Ukraine.

This was reported by MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, UNN reports.

Details

The Rada has just voted down my blocking resolution to prevent the abolition of the time change. Now the bill will be sent for signature

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On July 16, the Verkhovna Rada passed Bill No. 4201, which was submitted in 2020 by Ruslan Stefanchuk, who was then the first deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, to cancel the change of time in Ukraine from winter to summer. Thus, this year, Ukrainians will switch to winter time on the last Sunday (October 27) and there will be no more daylight saving time from 2025 onwards.

It should be noted that the draft law on the abolition of time saving in Ukraine was adopted in the first reading back in March 2021. A few weeks later, MPs failed to pass it in the second reading and in general, and it was sent back for a second reading. In his explanatory note, Stefanchuk stated that the draft law is aimed not only at resolving issues related to the determination of the legal basis for calculating time in Ukraine, but also aims to protect the territorial integrity and strengthen the national security of Ukraine, since, as is known, the time of the aggressor state, the Russian Federation, is set in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.

Therefore, the establishment and consolidation of a single Kyiv time throughout Ukraine, without exception, will in turn strengthen Ukraine's security position and contribute to the de-occupation and reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories

The speaker of the Rada also argued that the draft law is aimed at protecting public health, since, according to most scientists and doctors, the specified procedure for calculating time in terms of annual setting of clocks one hour forward and one hour back has a number of negative consequences, causing a significant deterioration in the health of citizens during the period of adaptation to “summer” and “winter” time.

This “seasonal time jump” leads to a change in human biological rhythms, which negatively affects the general condition of a person, both physiological and psychological

After the adoption of the draft law in the repeated second reading, MP Honcharenko introduced a resolution blocking its signing, because, in his opinion, this decision was made with gross violations of the requirements of the Rules of Procedure of the Verkhovna Rada, Article 45, which provides for the procedure for voting on proposals and amendments at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada, and Article 117, part 1, which provides that a draft law prepared for the second reading or repeated second reading, the opinion of the main committee and other supporting documents to it are not provided to MPs.

Later, Honcharenko registered petitions calling on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to veto the draft law on timekeeping.