Morocco formalizes yearly Daylight Saving Time
Published 10-Mar-2012. Changed 16-Mar-2012
Morocco will switch to daylight saving time (DST) every year from 2012 onwards. The North African country had revived DST as early as 2008, but the new law passed by the Moroccan government council on March 8 formalizes the seasonal time change for years to come.
Jamaa el Fna market in Marrakesh: There will be more time for evening shopping soon.
©iStockphoto.com/EP-stock
Update: The start date has been changed from March 25th to last Sunday in April.
According to the new law, clocks in Morocco will be turned forward one hour on the last Sunday in April and turned back again on the last Sunday in September.
This year's switch from standard time to DST will take place in the early hours of April 29, 2012. Although official information on the exact time of the switch is not yet available, observers expect clocks to be turned from 2am (02:00) to 3am (03:00) local time.
The end of the 2012 DST period falls on September 30, when clocks will be turned back one hour from 3am (03:00) to 2am (02:00) local time.
No DST during Ramadan
According to the new law, the DST period will be interrupted during the Muslim month of Ramadan (July 20 – August 20, 2012 in the Gregorian calendar). In that period clocks will be turned back to standard time. This interruption in the DST schedule is designed to shorten evenings, making it easier for Muslims to observe the Ramadan fast during hours of daylight. This is common practice in several other countries as well.
The exact dates and times of this interruption have not been made public yet. Times given on timeanddate.com are estimates and may change as soon as official information becomes available.
Time in Morocco
Standard time in Morocco is Western European Time (WET), which is the same as UTC. During the DST period, the country observes Western European Summer Time (WEST), which is one hour ahead of UTC.