World time, which is determined by the position of the Sun in the sky, is subject to the influence of the Earth's uneven natural rotation. To bring this time into compliance with the more stable flow of atomic clocks, known as Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), chronometrists began introducing additional, or leap, seconds back in 1972.
However, such adjustments regularly caused failures in various systems, including computer networks, transport infrastructure, and telecommunication systems. The situation has changed because it became clear in 2026 that due to the acceleration of the planet's rotation, a second would need to be subtracted from official time, not added.
Consequently, at the 28th General Conference on Weights and Measures, held on October 15, 2026, participants decided to abandon the practice of using leap seconds. In the future, the difference between astronomical and atomic time will only be compensated when it accumulates to a value of 3600 seconds, which corresponds to one hour.