International law regarding cross-border time manipulation effects is likely to derive from a plethora of legal provisions dealing with transboundary issues; however, there are no direct laws on the issue of time manipulation. Among these considerations include:
Transboundary Environmental Governance: The principles governing transboundary environmental issues, such as those discussed in the context of COVID-19, could be applied to time manipulation effects. This includes the selective permeability of borders and the need for international cooperation to manage cross-border impacts.
Cross-Border Transactions: Legal frameworks for cross-border transactions involve a choice of the governing law and consideration of tax implications. The same principles can be extended to manage the legal and economic implications of time manipulation across borders.
International law, including the law of armed conflict, human rights law, and criminal law, addresses the cross-border impacts of conflicts. These laws highlight state sovereignty and protection of individuals, which might be relevant in managing the effects of time manipulation.
Data Sovereignty and Data Protection Laws: Such laws provide rules for international transfers of personal data, especially GDPR and PIPL. For example, an analogy could exist for the protection of unauthorized time manipulation effect.
Temporary Reinstitution of Internal Border Control: Under the Schengen Borders Code, if serious threats were deemed to prevail, border control would be readmitted temporarily, in order to address the impact on the management of immediate implications from time manipulation effects.
International Standards Governing Migration: International human rights law and other bodies of law governing migration ensure that the rights of individuals are protected. These principles can be applied to protect individuals affected by cross-border time manipulation.
Although cross-border time manipulation effects are yet to be established with specific international laws, adaptation of the prevailing legal frameworks could be made with respect to existing transboundary environmental governance, cross-border transactions, global conflict, data protection, border control, and migration.
To my knowledge up to 2023, there is no international law specifically regulating "cross-border time manipulation" because time manipulation, as understood in science fiction (e.g., time travel), is not a scientifically validated or practical concept. Hence, it is not covered by any recognized legal framework.
There is, however, coordination for the time zone across international borders or about daylight saving. On issues of coordination and standardization for time measurement across borders, here are some:
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) This is the universal time by which the world coordinates and standardizes clock operation. Its maintenance lies on the International Bureau of Weights and Measures or BIPM. Civil timekeeping across all the nations finds its foundation and basis here.
International Telecommunication Union (ITU): This serves to coordinate as well as standardize time signals worldwide.
DST: All countries have exclusive powers to start or implement the time change themselves. However, DST has cross border effects in all the regions having neighbors that choose to have the time changed due to their time change policies.
TAI: It's an atomic coordinate high precision time that's based upon notional passing proper time upon geoid, it is, in fact, used to define the UTC.
Leap Seconds: The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) is responsible for announcing leap seconds, which are added to UTC to keep it in step with astronomical time.
If you are interested in legal frameworks related to these aspects of time coordination, you may want to look into the regulations and agreements established by organizations such as the BIPM, ITU, and IERS.
