SHOULD SAMOA CHANGE THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE (IDL)?

Introduction In 1892, Samoa changed the IDL from the East of Samoa to the West of Samoa. The reason for the change was that American traders had persuaded Malietoa Laupepa to adopt the American time. Prior to this, Samoa was on Asian date, being four hours ahead of Japan. So in 1892, Samoa had two occurrences of Monday 4 July.

Currently the IDL is to the West of Samoa and Samoa is in the same time zone with those countries to its east like Hawaii and American Samoa.

What is the International Date line? The IDL is an imaginary line on the surface of the Earth. It runs roughly along180o longitude, with diversions to pass around some territories and island groups. It roughly corresponds to the time zone boundary separating +12 and -12 hours Greenwich Mean Time. Crossing the IDL travelling east results in a day or 24 hours being subtracted, and crossing west results in a day being added.

The IDL drawn on maps always has been an artificial construct of cartographers-it is de facto. No international organization nor any treaty between nations has fixed the straight line segments and their junctions. All nations unilaterally determine their standard time zones which are applicable only on land and adjacent territorial waters. These national zones do not extend into international waters.

Therefore, if Samoa decides to shift its standard time from UTC-11 to UTC+13, the cartographers will simply redraw the IDL to the east of Samoa. The same thing happened in 1995, when Kiribati changed the date for its eastern island groups. The Line Islands and the Phoenix Islands had been observing a different date, one day earlier than the Gilbert Islands where most of the people of Kiribati lived. In 1995, the Line and Phoenix groups were shifted forward by one day. They did not need the approval of any international agency. In response,

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new maps began appearing with a large displacement in the IDL, skirting all of Kiribati along the country's eastern limit as seen below.

Time zones Time zones are based on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) the mean solar time at longitude 0o. GMT was established in 1675. It basically means that each new day starts in Greenwich, England. The International Conference in 1884 deemed that there would be a single Universal day and that this would begin at mean midnight at Greenwich. Twenty five time zones were established to the east and west of Greenwich with the IDL lying along the 180o line of longitude. Every place on Earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from the Greenwich Meridian. The line itself divides the eastern and western hemispheres of the Earth, just as the Equator divides the northern and southern hemispheres 2

GMT is now commonly referred to as Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC). Samoa standard time is currently the mean solar time of the longitude of 165o west of Greenwich which time is 11 hours behind Greenwich mean solar time. New Zealand standard time means the time 12 hours in advance of Co-ordinated Universal Time.

Current Situation The current situation is that Samoa’s date corresponds with American Samoa, Cook Islands and Hawaii. This has implications in terms of travel to and from those countries to the West, such as New Zealand and Australia. It means that travelling West from Samoa to New Zealand will cause one to lose a day and travelling east from New Zealand to Samoa will cause one to gain an extra day. Samoa has a very close relationship with NZ in terms of tourist numbers (75% of travelers to Samoa are from New Zealand and Australia). There are also strong family affiliations and a history of close relations.

Issues There are a number of issues that Samoa should be aware of in its desire to change the IDL from west to east. The moving of the IDL means a loss of a day. The following are some of the issues;

1. Whether neighbouring countries should be notified and consulted; 2. Whether official mappers and cartographers should be notified; 3. What impact will this have on maritime and aviation schedules; 4. The impact on tourists; 5. The impact on employers and employees (labour considerations); 6. The impact on deadlines based on dates and or days; and 7. Other economic impacts; Submissions The Samoa Law Reform Commission would like to see your views on the above issues. A response at your earliest would be appreciated.

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