Morocco has used daylight saving time since 1918, shifting clocks forward during periods of war, energy shortages, and later as a structured policy under a 1967 decree. Made permanent in 2018, GMT+1 continues to spark criticism, with many Moroccans calling for a return to standard time (GMT). DR ‹ › Moroccans are growing increasingly frustrated with permanent daylight saving time, which keeps clocks one hour ahead of GMT, the country's natural standard time. A recent petition launched by a «National Campaign for Returning to Standard Time» has already gathered more than 330,000 signatures, calling for a return to GMT. Made permanent on October 26, 2018 through a government decree, the decision has since been justified on the grounds of saving energy, increasing productivity, and aligning with European partners. Before that, Morocco implemented daylight saving, also known globally as summer time, only during the summer. As early as 1918 Dubbed among Moroccans as «Sa3a Jdida» (the new hour), the practice is not that new. It is, in fact, quite old, dating back as early as the 1900s. The first time Morocco implemented daylight saving time was in 1918, only a few years after GMT was decreed as the country's legal time. Dated October 26, 1913, the royal dahir stated that «the legal time in the territory of the French Protectorate in Morocco shall be the mean time of the Greenwich meridian», adding that its implementation would be overseen by the relevant authorities. That time was advanced by sixty minutes on the night of May 15 to 16, 1918, at midnight, through another dahir. Since then, Morocco has seen its clocks move back and forth by 60 minutes every other summer. The second occurrence of this practice appears in the Bulletin Officiel of September 1939. Still based on the 1913 legal time decree, the dahir in question ordered «advancing by sixty minutes starting from September 12, 1939 (27 Rajab 1358), and until further notice». The same decision was taken again in February 1940, with a decree implementing daylight saving time as early as February 25, «and until further notice». GMT+1 for a year? At the end of World War II, and still under the French Protectorate, another dahir announced the return to standard time (GMT) at the end of summer. In September 1945, as in previous years, Morocco decided to revert to standard time on November 17 of the same year. But on that very day, November 17, the decision was cancelled, and the country remained on GMT+1. The return to the original 1913 legal time was only postponed, it finally took place in September 1946, with Moroccans, perhaps for the first time, spending almost a full year on what could be considered permanent GMT+1. In 1950, the decision took a more serious turn, with a decree detailing the reasons behind implementing daylight saving time. «Considering that the low level of spring rainfall has led to a particularly difficult situation regarding the production of hydroelectric power… advancing the legal time by sixty minutes… is likely to reduce this consumption», reads a decree issued in June 1950. That year, the return to GMT was scheduled as late as October. A new legal framework Under the reign of King Hassan II, the 1913 dahir, issued under the French Protectorate, was finally replaced. In a royal decree issued on June 2, 1967, Morocco established a new legal framework governing time in the Kingdom. The text reaffirmed that «the legal time in the territory of the Kingdom shall be the mean time of the Greenwich meridian», confirming GMT as the reference. At the same time, it clearly allowed for the possibility of daylight saving time, stating that this time «may… be advanced each year by sixty minutes», with a return to standard time under the same conditions. For that year, the decree specified that clocks would be advanced «by sixty minutes starting from June 3, 1967, at 12:00». The reform also repealed the 1913 dahir that had previously defined Morocco's official time. Since then, Morocco has advanced its clocks by one hour during several summers, particularly throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The practice later disappeared, before returning in 2008. In a decree issued on May 22 of that year, Morocco reintroduced daylight saving time, once again advancing clocks by 60 minutes at the end of May and returning to GMT at the end of September. Signed by then Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi, the decree marked Morocco's return to seasonal time changes after years of irregular application. This system remained in place until 2018, when GMT+1 was made permanent, a decision that continues to face criticism and raise questions about its real impact on citizens and the economy.
