Time in Argentina

Time zone map of South America

Argentina is located at a longitude that would naturally put it in the UTC−04:00 or UTC−05:00 time zone; however, it actually uses the UTC−03:00 time zone. Argentina determines whether to change clocks in observation of daylight saving time on a year-by-year basis, and individual provinces may opt out of the federal decision. At present, Argentina does not change clocks.^{[ citation needed ]}

The Argentine Hydrographic Service ^[1] maintains the official national time.

History

The first official standardization of time in Argentina took place on 31 October 1894, with establishment of UTC−04:00 as the nation's standard time. ^[2] From 1920 to 1969, the official time switched biannually between UTC−04:00 as standard time in winter and UTC−03:00 as daylight saving time in summer. ^[3] From 1974 to 1993, clocks advanced again, such that the official time switched biannually between UTC−03:00 as winter DST and UTC−02:00 as summer double DST. ^[4] In 1993, the national time was fixed at UTC−03:00, called Argentina Time (ART; ^{[5] [6]} Spanish : hora oficial argentina, HOA). In 2007 and 2008, biannual switching between UTC–3:00 (winter DST) and UTC–2:00 (summer DST) resumed; in 2009, this was replaced again with year-round UTC–3:00 (permanent DST). ^[7]

IANA time zone database

In the file zone.tab of the IANA time zone database Argentina has the following zones:

C.c.*	Coordinates*	TZ*	Comments*	UTC offset	UTC offset DST	Map
AR	−3436−05827	America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires	Buenos Aires (BA, CF)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−3124−06411	America/Argentina/Cordoba	most areas: CB, CC, CN, ER, FM, MN, SE, SF	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−2447−06525	America/Argentina/Salta	Salta (SA, LP, NQ, RN)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−2411−06518	America/Argentina/Jujuy	Jujuy (JY)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−2649−06513	America/Argentina/Tucuman	Tucumán (TM)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−2828−06547	America/Argentina/Catamarca	Catamarca (CT), Chubut (CH)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−2926−06651	America/Argentina/La_Rioja	La Rioja (LR)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−3132−06831	America/Argentina/San_Juan	San Juan (SJ)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−3253−06849	America/Argentina/Mendoza	Mendoza (MZ)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−3319−06621	America/Argentina/San_Luis	San Luis (SL)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−5138−06913	America/Argentina/Rio_Gallegos	Santa Cruz (SC)	−03:00	−03:00
AR	−5448−06818	America/Argentina/Ushuaia	Tierra del Fuego (TF)	−03:00	−03:00

Full History

Full History of Time Zone Changes Since 1920

From 12:00 AM of the day	Adopted Time Zone	Until 11:59 of the day
01-05-1920	-4	30-11-1930
01-12-1930	-3	31-03-1931
01-04-1931	-4	14-10-1931
15-10-1931	-3	29-02-1932
01-03-1932	-4	31-10-1932
01-11-1932	-3	29-02-1933
01-03-1933	-4	31-10-1933
01-11-1933	-3	28-02-1934
01-03-1934	-4	31-10-1934
01-11-1934	-3	28-02-1935
01-03-1935	-4	31-10-1935
01-11-1935	-3	29-02-1936
01-03-1936	-4	31-10-1936
01-11-1936	-3	28-02-1937
01-03-1937	-4	31-10-1937
01-11-1937	-3	28-02-1938
01-03-1938	-4	31-10-1938
01-11-1938	-3	28-02-1939
01-03-1939	-4	31-10-1939
01-11-1939	-3	29-02-1940
01-03-1940	-4	30-06-1940
01-07-1940	-3	14-06-1941
15-06-1941	-4	14-10-1941
15-10-1941	-3	31-07-1943
01-08-1943	-4	14-10-1943
15-10-1943	-3	28-02-1946
01-03-1946	-4	30-09-1946
01-10-1946	-3	30-09-1963
01-10-1963	-4	14-12-1963
15-12-1963	-3	29-02-1964
01-03-1964	-4	14-10-1964
15-10-1964	-3	28-02-1965
01-03-1965	-4	14-10-1965
15-10-1965	-3	28-02-1966
01-03-1966	-4	14-10-1966
15-10-1966	-3	01-04-1967
02-04-1967	-4	30-09-1967
01-10-1967	-3	06-04-1968
07-04-1968	-4	05-10-1968
06-10-1968	-3	05-04-1969
06-04-1969	-4	04-10-1969
05-10-1969	-3	22-01-1974
23-01-1974	-2	30-04-1974
01-05-1974	-3	30-11-1988
01-12-1988	-2	04-03-1989
05-03-1989	-3	14-10-1989
15-10-1989	-2	03-03-1990
04-03-1990	-3	20-10-1990
21-10-1990	-2	02-03-1991
03-03-1991	-3	19-10-1991
20-10-1991	-2	29-02-1992
01-03-1992	-3	17-10-1992
18-10-1992	-2	06-03-1993
07-03-1993	-3	29-12-2007
30-12-2007	-2	15-03-2008
16-03-2008	-3	18-10-2008
19-10-2008	-2	14-03-2009
15-03-2009	-3	-present

^[8]

Notes

1. ^ Date format: DD-MM-YYYY

2. ^ Catamarca, Chubut, Jujuy, La Pampa, La Rioja, Mendoza, Neuquén, Río Negro, Salta, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur, continued using -3 time zone.

References

1. Hora Oficial Archived 2013-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
2. "HORA DE VERANO PARA LA REPUBLICA ARGENTINA". Archived from the original on 2003-08-03. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
3. Time Changes in Buenos Aires Over the Years, 1925–1949. TimeAndDate.com.
4. Time Changes in Buenos Aires Over the Years, 1970–1979. TimeAndDate.com.
5. "Argentina Time – ART Time Zone".
6. "Time zone names- Argentina Time" . Retrieved 2008-01-26.
7. "El Gobierno no adelantará la hora oficial el próximo domingo". Actualidad (in Spanish). 16 October 2009. Archived from the original on 18 October 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
8. "Hora Oficial y Frecuencia Patrón". Servicio de Hidrografía Naval. Retrieved 16 February 2025.

• tz database – The tz database contains an extensive history of time zone and daylight saving time changes, with references to official sources for changes to time zones, for Argentina and the rest of the world.

External links

• (in Spanish) Husos Horarios Adoptados en la República Argentina - Servicio de Hidrografía Naval, Ministerio de Defensa