> On Mar 25, 2025, at 14:50, Brian Inglis via tz <tz@iana.org> wrote: > > On 2025-03-25 11:54, Paul Gilmartin via tz wrote: >> On 3/25/25 11:40, Brian Inglis via tz wrote: >>> They have to provide substantial notice to IATA about time changes, and are >>> fined millions if they make late changes, ... >> What entity imposes such a fine? > > See late cancellation by Egypt in 2016 where they paid $8M to IATA: > > https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/232511/Egypt/Politics-/Travellers-should-arrive-at-airports-early-due-to-.aspx > > https://codeofmatt.com/time-zone-chaos-inevitable-in-egypt/ > > also discussion here on list.
Wow. IANAL, but I /think/ there's a pretty big difference between the IATA and the IANA, though. IATA certification of a country's airports is a regulatory affair. They require fees and dues of its members. There are rules to follow and they are spelled out. If one does something that causes the IATA certificates to lapse or be revoked/suspended, then commercial air carriers will stop using the airports because, I am told, insurance will stop covering those flights. I imagine that's just the start of a list of pretty undesirable effects such as happening would have. IANA is not that kind of entity. From what I can tell, neither is PTI or even ICANN for that matter. One does not enter into any kind of contractual or enforceable agreement, certainly not as far as timezone-related business is concerned. In this regard, IANA TZDB is more of a service; a clearinghouse of information that is /de facto/ canonical for computing-related timezone information. I think a more realistic strategy would be to make the technical process of implementing timezone adjustments more visible and understandable. It would include a clearer framework for government representatives to *proactively* inform the TZDB group and coordinators of any pending changes once the relevant law/edict/whatever has been finalized. There's a lot that would go into such an effort and would be impossible to summarize succinctly here. The current IANA TZDB website doesn't really say much beyond "we exist" which, I feel, doesn't help when it comes to expediently getting changes published, integrated into any given OS's patch cycle, distributed, and applied. /dale
