Given that UTC did not exist in its present form (and as described in ISO 8601:2004, that is, with leap seconds) until 1 January 1972,
and given that the ISO 8601:2004 standard states "[Z] is used as UTC designator." (p. 12) is it fair to conclude that it is improper to use the "Z" designator for any date/time in the ISO 8601 format prior to 1 January 1972? If indeed that is improper, would it not be incumbent on anyone who wishes to express a UT time/date in a format that looks like ISO 8601 format to either (1) leave off the designator, and communicate the fact that the it is UT through some other means, or, (2) establish their own standard that expressly modifies ISO 8601 to indicate that "Z" is the UTC designator after 1 January 1972, and the UT designatior before then? Gerry Ashton _______________________________________________ LEAPSECS mailing list [email protected] http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/leapsecs
