ASEAN Common Time

The ASEAN Common Time (ACT) is a proposed standard time for all Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states. It was proposed in 1995 by Singapore, and in 2004 and 2015 by Malaysia to make business across countries easier. The proposal failed because of opposition in Thailand and Cambodia, who felt that replacing their countries' current time zones (UTC+07:00) in favour of UTC+08:00 was unfavourable.

Currently, there are four different time zones used by ASEAN countries. UTC+06:30 (Myanmar); UTC+07:00 (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and Western Indonesia); UTC+08:00 (Brunei, Central Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Singapore); and UTC+09:00 (Eastern Indonesia and Timor-Leste).

The proposal would institute UTC+08:00 as the ASEAN Central Time, putting Myanmar at UTC+07:00, and leaving the 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, while the eastern islands of Indonesia would remain at UTC+09:00—in sync with Japan, South Korea, North Korea, East Timor and Palau.

Some regional businesses have already begun adopting the phrase "ASEAN Common Time", also using the abbreviation ACT, in their press releases, communications, and legal documents. The idea has continued to be under discussion by ASEAN, with Singapore supporting it strongly.

List ASEAN relation Country UTC offset Time ZoneAbbreviation Notes RefASEAN members +06:30 MMT Some experts suggest that moving to UTC+07:00, rather than UTC+08:00, would be a more natural change. Myanmar Standard Time +07:00 ICT Tried unsuccessfully to switch to UTC+08:00 in 2001 under then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The issue remains under discussion. Time in Thailand Time in Laos From 13 June 1975 after reunification. Time in Vietnam Time in Cambodia +07:00WIBA single national time zone of UTC+08:00 was once proposed, before being eventually cancelled.Time in Indonesia+08:00 WITA+09:00 WIT +08:00 SGT/SST Followed Malaysia to switch to UTC+08:00 on 1 January 1982, except under Japanese occupation of Singapore during World War II. Singapore Time MYT/MST Peninsular Malaysia switched from UTC+07:30 on 1 January 1982, and East Malaysia has used it since 1933, except under Japanese occupation during World War II. Time in Malaysia BNT/BDT Time in Brunei PHT/PST First implemented on 1 January 1845 by redrawing the International Date Line. It became permanent on 29 July 1990 when the country ended the use of daylight saving time, then set at UTC+09:00. Philippine Standard Time +09:00 TLT Time in Timor-LesteASEAN observer states +10:00 PGT Time in Papua New Guinea+11:00 BST ASEAN Plus Three +09:00 JST Japan Standard Time KST Time in South Korea +08:00 CST Time in China

ASEAN Common Time

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