Understand the Universal time-zone

Type DateTime

All date and time data is expressed as calendar dates (year, month, day) and a 24-hour day. Day and time data is always expressed in a combined format. No truncated formats are allowed. Dates are based on the Gregorian calendar. All date and time data is expressed numerically, leading zeros are preserved. Time can be expressed down to millisecond resolution, if necessary.

The basic type DateTime string pattern is yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.sssZhhmm or date-element 'T' time-element 'Z' [zone-offset]. The character 'T' is arequired delimiter between the date and time sections. Times are expressed in the extended format: the ':' is used as a delimiter between hours, minutes and seconds. Fractional seconds are expressed with a decimal mark ('.' or ',') when needed.

 

 yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.sssZ±hhmm

• date-element = yyyy [year-element]
• month-element = '-' MM [months-element]
• day-element = '-' dd [days-element]
• date-time delimiter = 'T'
• time-element = HH [hours-element]
• minute-element = ':' mm [minutes-element]
• second-element = ':' ss [seconds-element]
• fraction = ('.' | ',') digit+ [fraction]
• zone-offset = 'Z' | (('+' | '-') HH [mm])

 

Type conflicts

All use of date and time data in Amazon MWS should be expressed as type DateTime. However, there are a few parameters that express date or time as a simple string. Check the parameter type definition to be sure of which type to use. Using the wrong type will generate an error.

Timezone considerations

Time data is always based on a 24-hour timekeeping system and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). UTC is also known as Zulu (Z) time. The character 'Z' is expected as the UTC designator in the date time string.

Local timezones can be used, but must be expressed using a UTC offset. Offsets can be expressed as ±hh, where +hh is the local time (in hours) ahead of UTC and -hh is the local time behind UTC.

For example: Z+02 means UTC plus two hours ahead, and Z-04 means UTC minus four hours behind.

If no offset is specified, the API will assume UTC time, even if the 'Z' is missing.

While UTC can be expressed as Z+00, it is not required. The use of a terminal Z and no offset is permitted.

Time intervals

While time intervals and durations are allowed under ISO 8601, they are not currently used in Amazon MWS.

Example:

  2016-03-16T14:32:16.50Z-07

This example is read as the 16th day of March in 2016 at 14hrs 32min and 16.50 seconds UTC. The local time is 7 hours behind UTC.