DATE-OBS and the millennium; the proposal.

[Preben Grosbol]

It is a pleasure for me to announce that the European
FITS Committee has voted unanimously in support of the
following motion:

   "The European FITS Committee endorses the proposal for
    'Precise re-definition of DATE-OBS Keyword' as described
    in the 'sci.astro.fits' News Groups posting:

      'DATE-OBS and the millennium;   the proposal.' of
      1996-11-19T16:56:22+0000 by Peter Bunclark, RGO
      (Article: 1541 of sci.astro.fits)

     with the following comments:

     The European FITS Committee suggests

       1) that UTC is made mandatory for all DATExxxx keywords
          including DATE-OBS, and

       2) that the Appendix should not be a part of the proposal
          but only appended for information.

    It is recommended that the proposal is forwarded to the
    IAU FITS Working Group for final approval. It is recognized
    that minor technical changes and clarifications may be
    implemented in this process.

    This endorsement will first be effective when the North
    American FITS Group within the AAS WGAS and the Japanese
    FITS Group adopt similar resolution in support of this
    proposal."

Best regards,
Preben Grosbol,
European FITS Committee, Chair.