A total of 667,337 Finns responded to a survey launched by the Ministry of Transport and Communications to voice their view on which time zone should be adopted permanently in Finland. (Credit: Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)
The Ministry of Transport and Communications’ online survey on abolishing the biannual switch between standard and daylight saving time drew a total of 667,337 responses between Wednesday, 26 September, and Friday, 12 October.
The Finnish government will use the responses to formulate its position on a proposal to abolish the seasonal exercise across the European Union.
Both the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Transport and Communications have underlined that the survey should not be viewed as a vote, as the respondents were not required to register or identify themselves electronically and were thus theoretically able to respond more than once.
STT on Friday reported that the Ministry of Transport and Communications has launched a more scientific survey on which time zone – winter time, summer time or another time zone – should be adopted permanently in Finland. A ministry spokesperson told the news agency that the views of experts and industries will also be taken into consideration in formulating a position on the issue.
A final decision on the issue will be made by the Finnish Parliament.
The European Commission has proposed all member states announce whether they will adopt summer or winter time permanently by April 2019. Possibly the last switch from winter to summer time will therefore take place on 31 March 2019, after which the member states that wish to adopt winter time will switch back to winter time on 27 October 2019.
Also Uusi Suomi has conducted a survey on the issue, finding that 51 per cent of Finns would prefer to adopt summer time and 49 per cent winter time permanently.
