View source for UTC−12:00

{{Short description|Time zone}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2008}}
{{Infobox time zone | UTC = yes}}
[[File:Timezones2008 UTC-12.png|thumb|300px|UTC−12:00: blue (December), orange (June), yellow (year-round), light blue (sea areas)]]
'''UTC−12:00''' is an identifier for a [[UTC offset|time offset from UTC]] of −12:00. It is the last to enter a [[New Year]], and is sometimes referred to as the '''International Date Line West''' ('''IDLW''') time zone.<ref name="IEEE">{{cite web|title=IEEE 802.16 AOE Deadline Documentation|url=http://www.ieee802.org/16/aoe.html|website=IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee|access-date=1 January 2024}}</ref>

==Characteristics==
UTC−12:00 is a [[Time zone#Nautical time zones|nautical time zone]] comprising the [[high seas]] between [[180th meridian|180°]] and 172°30′W longitude, and the time is obtained by subtracting twelve hours from [[Coordinated Universal Time]] (UTC). No inhabited territory lies within this time zone offset, either as [[standard time]] or [[daylight saving time]]; it only comprises the [[United States Minor Outlying Islands]], specifically [[Baker Island]] and [[Howland Island]] ([[strict nature reserve]]s belonging to the United States), as standard time.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 June 2023 |title=UTC-12 time zone |url=https://24timezones.com/time-zone/utc-12:00#gref |website=24 Timezones}}</ref>

A number of inhabited territories lie within the longitudinal limits of this time zone. These are [[Tonga]], [[Wallis and Futuna]] and [[Chatham Islands]] as well as parts of [[Chukotka Autonomous Okrug]] of [[Russia]], the US state of [[Alaska]], [[Fiji]], [[Tokelau]] and [[Samoa]]. However, none of them keep the date and time of UTC−12:00. Instead, they keep the time and date (or just the date) of one of the neighboring zones, usually because they belong, politically, to a country which lies mostly in the neighboring time zone.

Since the International Date Line West (IDLW) time zone represents the last place on [[Earth]] a particular time and date exists, this is referred to as [[Anywhere on Earth]] (AoE). A deadline specified as "Anywhere on Earth" has not passed if there is a place on Earth where the deadline has not passed, which is equivalent to the statement that the deadline has not passed in the UTC–12:00 zone.<ref name="IEEE"/>

==See also==
*[[Greenwich Mean Time]]
*[[Howland and Baker Islands]]
*[[UTC+12:00]]
*[[UTC+14:00]]
*[[Anywhere on Earth]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline}}
{{UTC time offsets}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Utc minus 12:00}}
[[Category:UTC offsets]]
[[Category:United States Minor Outlying Islands]]

[[es:Huso horario#UTC−12:00, Y]]