In 2004 the USWP7A submitted a draft proposed revised version of ITU-R TF.460, the document which defines UTC. The document was submitted to the ITAC-R and reviewed according to Department of State guidelines. The archival version is still available from the FCC website: http://www.fcc.gov/ib/sand/irb/weritacrnc/archives/nc1893wp7a/1.doc
This document proposed that as of 2007-12-21 the nature of UTC should change such that there would be no further leap seconds. Indications are that the year 2007 was chosen as a result of discussion at the 2004 CCTF meeting where representatives of the EU Galileo navigation satellites requested that any change in UTC be effected before their system would become operational. The document was presented at the WP7A meeting in November 2004. There were objections, most notably to the proposed date of transition when UTC would cease to have leap seconds. December of 2007 would be only about two months after the next set of general assemblies of the ITU-R. During 2005 the USWP7A initially proposed to submit effectively the same document. This document has gone through the Department of State review process. I have a web page with most details on that: http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/leapsecs/nc1985wp7a.html The significant difference in the 2005 version of the document is that the date of transition has been changed from 2007-21-21 to December 21 of the year five years after adoption of the change by the ITU-R. Five years is undeniably a bit more reasonable than less than two months, but it is still not clear that it is enough time to bring products to market, upgrade software, change legal documents, etc. (It is a bit strange that the 2005 document from the US has not been contributed to the ITU-R WP7A meeting. I can only surmise that the public review process in the US generated enough objections to cause the Department of State to withhold it. It is also strange that all traces of the 2005 draft seem to have vanished from the FCC web site. Last year's draft is still in the FCC web archives. This year's draft is only available on my web page.) The process by which ITU-R recommendations are approved is here: http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/publications/rec/approval/index.html The rules say that recommendations can be changed by correspondence if there are no objections, but that if there are objections then the change must be approved at a Radiocommunication Assembly. Media reports on the process have indicated that Lord Salisbury of the UK has directed that the UK DTI shall oppose a proposal which causes UTC to deviate from GMT. If that holds true during the ITU-R WP7A meeting in 2005 November then it seems likely the issue of UTC will have to be presented to a Radiocommunication Assembly. The next Radiocommunication Assembly will be held in 2007. http://www.itu.int/ITU-R/conferences/ra/ra-07/index.asp If a majority of the members approve the change to UTC at that time, then the effective date of the change to UTC would be 2012-12-21. The culturally astute will recognize that as a significant date. 2012-12-21 is one great cycle, or 13 bak'tuns (5128 years) after the long count of the Mayan calendar began. The priest/astronomers who set up the calendar some 1500 years ago saw no reason to be able to count further, so for many central American cultures that is the final day that can be represented. (My mom just returned from two weeks of exploring the Mayan territories and dining with its cultural remnants. Hi Mom!) The significance of this imminent end of a calendar has been included in the apocalyptic world views of more than a few non-Mayans. For example, the date 2012-12-21 was written into the lore of the long-running TV series The X Files. The series hinted that on that date the Mother Ship might return. (If actually pressed by the production of any X-Files movie sequel I suspect that Chris Carter would find some other significance to that date. Perhaps he would offer that as the date that Mulder and Sculley's kid hits puberty and develops some new alien power.) But in this whole paragraph I digress.... Some of the reporters who have talked with me have asked me whether I believe there is a conspiracy to abolish leap seconds. I reply that the proponents have been dining together at international conferences for decades, but that does not mean there is anything sinister. Still, for the date in the 2005 draft by the USWP7A I have to congratulate D. Wayne Hanson, Ron Beard, and anyone else who has been contributing to the US document. They could hardly have created a better gift for the conspiracy theorists. It's especially cool that it looks sortof like they tried to hide the actual date. During the years while this process of contemplating changes to UTC has been going on I sometimes remind folks that there will be other changes in astronomical standards and civil systems which will have side effects that trigger expenditures for new hardware and labor. If UTC is changed then that's part of ongoing operation and maintenance of a system. You just have to keep it in perspective. After all, it's not like the world is going to come to an end. -- Steve Allen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> WGS-84 (GPS) UCO/Lick Observatory Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99858 University of California Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06014 Santa Cruz, CA 95064 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m