ASEAN Common Time

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ASEAN Common Time is an idea proposed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to adopt a standard time of UTC+08:00 for all member countries. Some regional businesses have already begun adopting the phrase "ASEAN Common Time," and often use the abbreviation ACT in their press releases, communications, and legal documents.

There are also ASEAN citizens who have started using "ACT" on their websites and blogs.^{[citation needed]} Authorities are looking to bring the unified time zone into use by 2015, when they expect the ASEAN Free Trade Area to be fully implemented, with the potential time realignment promoted as a way to better expedite commerce.

But some commentators suggest using UTC+07:00 instead, as UTC+08:00 would create problems in the Kachin State of Myanmar during summer months, with a late sunrise taking place at 07:20 and a late sunset at 20:45. Other experts advocate calling UTC+08:00 ASEAN Central Time, putting Myanmar at UTC+07:00, and leaving less populous eastern Indonesia at UTC+09:00.

This would result in the vast majority of the region's people and territory lining up at UTC+08:00—in sync with China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and Western Australia. The eastern islands of Indonesia would remain at UTC+09:00—in sync with South Korea, Japan, Palau, and East Timor.

As of 2012^[update], the four different time zones used by ASEAN countries were UTC+06:30 (Myanmar); UTC+07:00 (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and western Indonesia); UTC+08:00 (Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, and central Indonesia); and UTC+09:00 (eastern Indonesia).

List

ASEAN relation	Country	UTC offset	Acronym	Notes	More
ASEAN member	Myanmar	+06:30	MST	Some experts suggest that moving to UTC+07:00, rather than UTC+08:00, would be a more natural change.	Time in Myanmar
ASEAN member	Thailand	+07:00	ICT	Tried unsuccessfully to switch to UTC+08:00 in 2001 by then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Issue remains under discussion.	Time in Thailand
ASEAN member	Laos	+07:00	ICT
ASEAN member	Vietnam	+07:00	ICT	From 1975-06-13 after reunification	Time in Vietnam
ASEAN member	Cambodia	+07:00	ICT		Time in Cambodia
ASEAN member	Indonesia	+07:00 +08:00 +09:00	WIB (WST) WITA (CST) WIT (EST)	A single national time zone of UTC+08:00 may be in place by Independence Day (17 August), although some scientists favour leaving the east at UTC+09:00.	Time in Indonesia
ASEAN member	Singapore	+08:00	SGT	From 1982-01-01	Time in Singapore
ASEAN member	Malaysia	+08:00	MYT	Peninsular Malaysia switched from UTC+07:30 on 1982-01-01, and East Malaysia uses it since 1933, except for the Japanese Occupation during World War Two.	Time in Malaysia
ASEAN member	Brunei	+08:00	BNT
ASEAN member	Philippines	+08:00	PHT		Time in the Philippines
ASEAN observer	Timor-Leste	+09:00	TLT
ASEAN observer	Papua New Guinea	+10:00	PGT
ASEAN Plus Three	Japan	+09:00	JST		Time in Japan
ASEAN Plus Three	South Korea	+09:00	KST		Korean Standard Time
ASEAN Plus Three	People's Republic of China	+08:00	CST		Time in China