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It is not precisely clear from the XML Schema Datatypes specification whether leading zeros are permitted in instances of gYearMonth and gYear when (the absolute value of) the year in question is outside the range of 0001 to 9999. However, in the otherwise analogous passage of the specification of dateTime, such ambiguity is not present (such leading zeros are prohibited), and a reasonable interpretation in these other two cases is to straightforwardly follow that precedent. See bullet (vii) from : http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-xml-schema- comments/2002JanMar/0873.html
At the WG call of 2005-09-09, Dave Peterson reported that he had made a wording proposal to fix this bug, at http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-xml-schema-ig/2005Sep/0045
Discussed at 2005-09-23 telecon. Accepted the proposed wording.