Citizen’s bill against time adjustment goes to parliament

A citizen’s initiative bill to ban adjusting the clock for summer and winter has been submitted to parliament on Thursday.

The bill which has gained more than 70,000 signatures from citizens was handed over to the second deputy speaker of parliament, Arto Satonen, parliament sources said.

The initiative supported by the Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party), the second largest component of the three-party ruling alliance, however, needs approval from the European Union.

Many people are interested to go back to the state of 1981 when the clock was same round the year. Finland has been following separate time schedules for summer and winter after that.

If the bill is passed, Finland will stop changing the clocks in the spring and autumn.

The initiative criticised moving the clock forward and back as a factor affecting quality and quantity of sleep.

The children’s ombudsman also criticised it last year, suggesting that it causes behavioural problems among children.

Parliament has an obligation to handle any citizen’s initiative that has accumulated at least 50,000 signatures in six months after its launch.

The citizen’s initiative is examined and approved by Population Register Centre before forwarding it to parliament.