Originally Posted by cyccommute
Considering that the US signed an international treaty in the 50s promising to keep daylight saving time to only 6 months a year like the rest of the world our current set up is clearly illegal. But then I suppose we could talk to any number of Native American tribes about our national promises, couldn't we?
Are you saying that the US has a longer DST than Europe by a whole month? If you consult the link I posted, also posted with the relevant page below, you'll realize that indeed the US has longer than a 6 month period of DST. It's from the first Sunday in April until the last Sunday of October. A total of 7 months. However, on that same page you'll notice that EU starts their DST earlier than the USA (always in March), and ends on the same day. Seeing as there have been changes to DST numerous times in the US and in Europe I doubt any treaty signed in the 50s is still in effect between these two entities (not that the EU even existed to sign a treaty back then, it would have be other nations). Also, from 1945 to 1966, there was no federal law about Daylight Saving Time. So states and localities were free to choose whether to observe Daylight Saving Time and could choose when it began and ended. Thus I'm not sure than any such treaty ever existed.
When DST is observed:
http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html